Sales and profits power ahead at The Hut Group

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 31, 2018

2017 was a year of record sales, investment and international growth for The Hut Group, having invested £164m in strategic acquisitions, increased sales by almost 50% and upgraded its e-commerce platform.

The company announced on Thursday that group sales edged up 47% to £736m last year, boosted by an impressive performance overseas, with international sales up 62%. International demand contributed £512m, and now account for 70% of the group’s sales.

Meanwhile, gross profit increased by 51% to £318m and EBITDA was up 38% to £69m.

While revenues and profits increased, The Hut Group focused on adding more brands to its beauty and wellness portfolio, snapping up Glossyboxy, Illamasqua, Espa and RY.com.au during the period. It also spent £39m of capex on new manufacturing, distribution, supply chain and office facilities, and invested £25m in its proprietary e-commerce platform to enhance its functionality and capabilities.

“2017 was a year of significant development and growth for The Hut Group, as we invested in our infrastructure, our technology platform, our people and our brands. THG is now firmly a global player and it is particularly pleasing to see over 70% of Group sales coming from overseas, and 58% of total sales being of our own brands,” said CEO Matthew Moulding.

“During the year our acquisitions of Hangar Seven and UK2 saw us develop further our propriety technology platform, THG Ingenuity, and investments in key brands such as Espa, Illamasqua and Glossybox further extended our leading beauty offer. In addition, our job creation continued apace and we welcomed over 1,800 colleagues to The Hut Group around the world.

“With our growing, talented workforce, our leading brands and our cutting-edge technology and infrastructure, we look forward to a further year of growth in 2018.”

The company has recently begun work on a new head office at Manchester Airport, which will house around 10,000 employees when it is completed in two years.