Matthew Moulding has muttered about spin-offs at THG almost from the moment he brought the Lookfantastic and Myprotein e-commerce company, then called the Hut Group, to the stock market four years ago at a princely valuation of £4.5bn.
Here comes the first actual proposal, albeit one at a very early stage: there could be a “demerger” of Ingenuity, the division that provides “cutting-edge commerce solutions” to THG’s beauty and nutrition operations and also to third-party brands. With THG’s shares down almost 90% since listing, it may indeed be time to try something crowd-pleasing. The problem, though, is that this plan looks hellishly complicated.
