HUT PLANS TO SPIN-OFF BOOMING BEAUTY ARM

THE Hut Group (THG) is planning to spin-off its beauty arm next year and list it on the London Stock Exchange.

The online retailer, which only ventured onto the public markets itself last year in a £5.4bn float, could be worth more if broken up into its individual components, bosses think.

A separation of THG’s beauty business, which owns online stores such as Look Fantastic and Cult Beauty as well as eight make-up and skincare brands could prove lucrative for the company’s shareholders. This would include founder Matt Moulding, THG’s largest shareholder (pictured with his wife, Jodie), who has a 14.2pc stake in the group worth £1.1bn.

A spin-out of the beauty arm would leave THG with its so-called ingenuity business, which creates the technology to run online shopping websites for retailers from Asda to Argos, and its nutrition brands.

In the first half of this year, THG’s revenues were £958.8m, but the group made a loss of £81.3m after buying a number of brands and facing higher delivery costs due to the coronavirus pandemic.