The Hut Group acquires Cult Beauty
The Hut Group has agreed to acquire online retailer Cult Beauty in a £275 million deal.
In a statement, THG said Cult Beauty was a compelling addition to its portfolio due to its 300-strong range of third party beauty brands and its personalised, content-led approach. Brands sold on its online platform include the likes of Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant and Huda Beauty and around two-thirds are not currently listed on existing THG Beauty sites.
Matthew Moulding, executive chairman and chief executive of THG, said: “Cult Beauty’s first-to-market reputation makes the brand an exciting fit for our THG Beauty division. When retailing brands to consumers THG Beauty will run with two unique fascias within our main continents: THG will principally service customers within North America via our Dermstore and Lookfantastic brands, while in the UK, Europe, Asia and the Rest of the World the key brands will be Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty.”
THG is acquiring Cult Beauty from private shareholders including majority investor Mark Quinn-Newall, the co-founder of Net-a-Porter, and co-chief executive Alexia Inge.
The group expects Cult Beauty to contribute sales of around £60 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately £3 million in the remainder of the current financial year.
Moulding added: “We anticipate fully migrating Cult Beauty onto the THG Ingenuity platform by the end of the year (within the first six months of acquisition), giving the brand access to the global digital features to underpin significant future growth.”
