The Hut Group buys online beauty retailer Cult for £275m

The Hut Group has sealed a £275 million deal to buy online-only beauty retailer Cult Beauty.

The ecommerce giant said the acquisition will boost its sales for the next full year by £140 million, with an earnings lift of around £10 million.

Cult Beauty, which was founded in 2007 by Alexia Inge and Jessica Deluca, sells around 300 independent brands, such as Charlotte Tilbury, Living Proof and Molton Brown.

The Hut Group (THG) said it would acquire Cult Beauty from private shareholders, including majority investor and Net-A-Porter co-founder Mark Quinn-Newall, and co-chief executive Alexia Inge.

The sale was priced £275 million on a cash and debt-free basis.

THG – which was valued at more than £5 billion in a mammoth stock market float last year – already operates more than 100 international direct-to-consumer fashion, lifestyle, health and beauty websites after embarking on an acquisition spree in recent months.

THG also told investors it was now on track to surpass previous sales growth targets for the current financial year.

“Cult Beauty is frequently the partner of choice for emerging indie brands due to its personalised, content-led approach and enthusiastic consumer base who are continually seeking new, innovative solutions to complement their beauty routines,” THG chief executive Matthew Moulding said.

“Cult Beauty’s first-to-market reputation makes the brand an exciting fit for our THG Beauty division.

“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.”

From: retailgazette