THG baffled by ongoing slump
FIRM FOUNDER’S £700M HIT TO STAKE
THE founder of online retailer THG is nursing a £700million paper loss after a continued slump in its share price.
THG issued a statement yesterday saying it was baffled by a 35% collapse in its share price the previous day.
It initially appeared to calm investors’ fears, before the shares then closed down another near 3%. They plunged to 285p on Tuesday, wiping £1.9billion off THG’s value, on the day it made a key presentation to investors about the business and its future plans.
THG said yesterday that it knew of “no notifiable reason for the material share price movement, and that no material new information was disclosed at the event”.
It capped a dramatic fall in the Manchester-based group’s shares
Lobby groups representing more than 260,000 firms have called for a reform of rates to unleash investment.
The Confederation of British Industry, along with 41 trade associations employing nine million, have issued a joint statement outlining how such action by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, right, at this month’s Budget could bring a host of benefits. These include meeting the Government’s target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. since early September, which has seen its stock market value dive by £5bn.
Founder Matthew Moulding’s stake in the firm has plummeted £700m since then.
The 49-year-old has blamed short sellers – City wheeler dealers who borrow shares in the hope of making a fat profit when they fall. But others point to confusion about the group’s strategy and Ingenuity, its technology logistics business that helps other brands to sell online.
THG – formerly The Hut Group – was founded in 2004 by Moulding and John Gallemore.
They initially sold CDs online on behalf of supermarkets before switching to health and beauty, owning brands such as Myprotein and running 3,000 separate websites.
Households in the UK have placed one billion orders on online food delivery platform Just Eat since its inception in 2001, the company has revealed.
The milestone was reached during the summer, and included 200 million orders in the first nine months of 2021.