THG announces £75m fundraising, demerger of Ingenuity business

(Sharecast News) - E-commerce company THG said on Thursday that it will go ahead with plans to demerge its Ingenuity business into a standalone independent private entity as it announced a £75m equity raising to help facilitate the demerger. The firm, which owns brands such as Lookfantastic and Glossybox, announced last month that it was considering a demerger of Ingenuity.

It said in a release after the market close on Thursday that it was targeting an equity raise of around £75m to "facilitate the demerger" by way of a placing and subscription, with additional proceeds from a retail offer.

Chief executive Matthew Moulding plans to invest £10m in the equity raise, it said, while other long-term shareholders including Sofina, Mark Evans, Sir Terry Leahy, West Coast Capital and Brian Kennedy have also indicated an intention to invest.

THG said the demerger would facilitate the simplification of its business model "as a cash generative global consumer beauty and nutrition group, with an improved balance sheet, capex and cashflow profile".

News of the demerger and equity raise came alongside a third-quarter update that showed total revenue declined by 5.2% on the same period a year earlier to £442.8m. Group continuing revenue fell 2% to £433.1m.