THG founder and CEO Matthew Moulding has given up the “Special Share” he held that allowed him to veto any hostile takeover offer as the group eyes listing on the FTSE250.
The removal of the veto comes ahead of the ecommerce and digital services group’s AGM later today, when it will forecast an increase in first half profit, driven by strong performances from its nutrition site, and maintained its guidance for the full year.
The Manchester company, which also owns beauty e-commerce sites and provided digital services to third-party brands, also said in a statement ahead of the AGM on Wednesday that founder and CEO Matthew Moulding has transferred the Special Share. This process had been expected to take place in September, and THG will now cancel the Special Share early.
The group last month ended takeover talks with Apollo Global Management, and intends to move to a FTSE250 listing subject to the final outcome of the Financial Conduct Authority’s review for reform of the listing regime.
In today’s latest trading update, THG forecast first-half adjusted core earnings in the range of 44 million pounds to 47 million pounds ($56-$60 million), up from 32.3 million pounds in the same period last year.
It said the nutrition business was benefiting from easing commodity prices, with further margin benefits expected in the second half. THG Beauty, meanwhile “focussed on profitable sales in markets where our localised infrastructure can deliver economies of scale, while THG Ingenuity “continues to make good progress on building its client base across higher value enterprise accounts.”
THG’s for the full year was unchanged, with adjusted core earnings expected to be in line with analysts’ average forecast of 118.5 million pounds.
It added: “For the group, adjusted EBITDA margin accretion into FY 2024 and beyond will be driven by annualised commodity pricing benefits, ongoing automation efficiencies and operating leverage, in addition to normalised capital expenditure, underpinning positive free cash flow guidance for FY 2024.”
Shares in the group were up 2.61 per cent this morning at £74.8.
