the times | Wednesday February 23 2022 2GM 41
Business
THG has attempted to reassure inves-
tors about its relationship with suppli-
ers after reports that Unilever was re-
stricting access to its beauty brands.
Shares in the embattled ecommerce
group fell by another 6 per cent on
Monday after The Sunday Telegraph
reported that Unilever’s Dermalogica,
an upmarket skincare brand, reduced
supplies to THG amid concerns that it
was discounting too aggressively.
However, THG has taken the rare
step of commenting a day later on its
share price reaction and denied that
Dermalogica had placed “any restric-
tions on its trading relationship with
THG Beauty, including with regard to
the supply of stock”. Unilever declined
to comment.
THG said Dermalogica accounted
for about 0.1 per cent of last year’s sales
but it was also “not aware of any other
key supplier to THG Beauty who has or
who intends to reduce supply or take
THG hits back amid row
about beauty suppliers
any similar steps”. The company at-
tempted to emphasise the strength of
its operations by saying that its beauty
division provided a global route for
1,000 third-party beauty brands.
Shares in THG closed down nearly
2p, or 1.8 per cent, at 101½p, after tum-
bling by 85 per cent in the past year.
The company was founded in 2004
by Matt Moulding and John Gallemore
originally as an online CD and DVD re-
tailer. It has since morphed into a nutri-
tion and beauty business with 300 web-
sites and 10,000 staff.
THG’s beauty division made
£751.6 million in sales last year and in-
cludes brands such as Eyeko and Illa-
masqua and the websites Lookfantastic
and Cult Beauty after acquisitions.
Last September THG said it was con-
sidering separating its beauty division
as takeover multiples kept increasing
for cosmetics brands. This spooked in-
vestors who thought that the company
would be significantly different to the
business they had backed at its listing.Ashley Armstrong Retail Editor
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JASON RICHARDSON/ALAMY LIVE NEWScapacity. The
company has said that
it is developing other
new projects in
Washington DC,
Nashville, Austin,
Detroit, New York and
Los Angeles.
The $50 million
funding round was led
by the guitar company
Gibson Brands and
Nat Zilkha, Gibson’s
chairman who is on
TVG’s board.
Others were
Goldman Sachs,
LionTree and variouspartners at KKR.
Backers also
included the
musicians Ryan
Tedder and Maggie
Rogers, Lucy Dickins,
of the talent agency
WME, former Live
Nation and
Ticketmaster
chairman Irving
Azoff, and the
managers of artists
such as Dave
Matthews, Phish,
Keane and Pharrell
Williams.
Tech moguls in theline-up include Slack’s
co-founder Stewart
Butterfield, Airbnb
co-founder Joe Gebbia
and Fossil Group
founder Tom
Kartsotis.
Ben Lovett said: “I
am incredibly grateful
for the investments
from so many of our
industry leaders. It
further cements our
belief that our new
thinking is going to be
game changing for
artists, fans and
communities alike.”TVG was co-founded by
Ben Lovett, left, from
Mumford & Sons