The Hut Group looking to float?

Online beauty and nutrition retailer reignites speculation it is mulling over a £5 billion IPO.

The Hut Group – which owns beauty brands such as ESPA, Illamasqua and Glossy Box – is reportedly eyeing up a £5 billion IPO.

The Manchester-based company – which also owns Myprotein, plus fashion brands such as Coggles and AllSole – has been holding meetings with a series of high profile private investors, according to The Sunday Times, which it says is a prelude to a float.

Over the past decade, founder Matthew Moulding has grown the group through a series of acquisitions and through white labelling its technology to other beauty brands, via its THG Ingenuity arm.

Earlier in June, it reported that its sales had exceeded £1 billion in the year to December 31, 2019.

Last week saw it sign deals with Elemis, PZ Cussons Beauty, Burt’s Bees, Nuxe, By Terry and Revolution Beauty to power their direct to consumer strategies. The £100m partnerships add to names including Nestlé and Procter & Gamble in the THG Ingenuity roster.

In response to the latest rumours, the company stated: “Each year THG speaks to major global investors about future investment. This has always been done as a private company and this year is no different.”

Want to read more news like this? Simply sign up to our daily digest by clicking here. You can also follow @LicensingSource on Twitter and @licensing_source on Instagram.