Profits surge at online firm as it prepares to take on 1,500 staff over next 12 months
One of the North West’s fastest growing companies saw its profits increase by almost a third to £417m over the last 12 months.
Group sales at The Hut Group were up by a quarter to £916m and EBITDA increased by 31% to £91m.
The impressive results are driving major expansion at the business which led to the online business taking on 1,500 extra staff over the last 12 months.
The business is on course to create another 1,500 jobs over the next 12 months.
The firm made £180m of investments in the last year across its divisions and it increased its banking facility to £795m.
The firm now employs over 5,000 people and 20% of THG’s share capital has been awarded to employees since the group was founded including 6% during 2018.
During the year a number of employees shared almost £21m of proceeds through share buybacks
The firm splashed out £82m on strategic acquisitions during the year across a number of markets.
These included Language Connect, a leading language translation and localisation services company and Acheson & Acheson, one of the UK’s most important players in the research, development and production of beauty brands.
THG’s online platform now operates across 31 languages and 39 currencies, is supported by 37 payment options, delivering to 169 countries with over 30 final mile couriers.
The company invested in its distribution network including the design and build of a freehold warehouse and manufacturing facility in Wroclaw, Poland.
Over the next 12 months the network will be strengthened further with the addition of smaller, capital light, fulfilment centres in Asia, Australasia and India, as well as two additional locations in the USA.
The biggest project is ithe $1bn landmark investment agreement to construct a major new business campus at Manchester Airport.
The scheme includes developing 1m sq. ft. of office as well as studio space.
The development, the largest ever by a company in the North West, will be made over two sites and support up to 10,000 jobs:
A business campus will be built over 16.8 acres in four phases, with phase one comprising office buildings totalling 280,000 sq. ft.
The second site, ICON, will house the Group’s new logistics and content creation studio on a 11.6-acre site.
Matthew Moulding, founder and chief executive, said: “This has been another landmark year for THG. Our strategic investments to develop our technology, infrastructure, brands and people, have delivered exceptional global growth with 66% of our sales achieved internationally.
“THG’s investments during 2018 have been followed by further investments to date in 2019, resulting in over £850m ($1.1bn) of investment across Beauty, Technology and Infrastructure since 2016 and the vote on Brexit. This scale of investment propels THG’s proposition across global markets, deepening our strategic advantage and enabling us to digitalise brands at scale.
“The acquisition of Language Connect brings another step change in the evolution of our proprietary technology platform, THG Ingenuity, and supports our continued international growth. Our Beauty division delivered a standout performance in the year, driven by growth across the global, especially Asia and the US. The acquisitions of Eyeko, Ameliorate and Acheson & Acheson are excellent additions to our leading brands portfolio and the latter will drive innovative product development.”
“Talent is key to our success, and the announcement of our agreement to invest $1bn in the new THQ business campus demonstrates our strong commitment to investing in our people.”
