It’s been another strong year for health and beauty retailer The Hut Group as annual sales have soared and the group is now on track to reach revenues of more than £1bn.
The global tech giant, which owns brands including Glossybox, Illamasqua and Skinstore, has reported a 24 per cent surge in sales to £916m for the year to December 31 2018, up from £736m a year earlier.
The group, which specialises in health and well-being brands, saw earnings before tax and interest jump 31 per cent to £91m during the year.
Sales growth was driven by around £180m worth of investments, including a number of major acquisitions.
It spent £82m on strategic acquisitions in 2018, snapping up language technology business Language Connect, beauty research business Acheson & Acheson and eye cosmetic brand Eyeko.
It also pumped £98m of capital investment into technology and infrastructure projects over the period.
During the year, The Hut Group created around 1,500 jobs, largely in the north west, taking its total global workforce to more than 5,000 staff.
The business, which was founded in 2004, announced its first bricks-and-mortar site at the end of June as it continues to boost its profile.
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Matthew Moulding, founder and chief executive officer of the group, said the company was now on track to reach more than £1bn on the back of recent growth driven by the beauty business.
He 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.”
He continued: “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.”
The company has also pledged £760m investment in the North West of England with the construction of a custom-built headquarters near Manchester Airport. Work started at the site earlier this year.
Developers also broke ground on The Hut Group’s new 11.6-acre logistics site , also at Manchester Airport.
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The site at Icon will provide a logistics and content creation facilities, totalling 168,000 sq ft, and additional 104,000 sq ft of office space over four floors.
The completion of Icon will allow for around 2,000 new roles to be created across THG’s workforce, including those in video production, photography and logistics departments.
Said Matt: “We are a tech company with a large property portfolio.
“For our business to attract top talent, create a culture that people enjoy and want to thrive in, it’s important for the company to have a north west campus where they can develop their career.
“We are a large employer and as such the culture of our business and the environment is hugely important, it’s why we have been investing heavily and will continue to invest.”