×
79 058
Fashion Jobs
L'OREAL GROUP
Keyholder- Oulet Store (FT) - Jersey Shore 0000018351
Permanent · Tinton Falls
NORDSTROM
Asset Protection - Security Ambassador - Valley Fair
Permanent · San Jose
NORDSTROM
Asset Protection - Security Ambassador - Galleria at Roseville
Permanent · Roseville
NORDSTROM
Retail Stock - Great Lakes Crossing Rack
Permanent · Auburn Hills
ROSS
dc Operations Manager
Permanent · Shafter
ROSS
dc Maintenance Manager
Permanent · Buckeye
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Pleasanton Stoneridge - Full Time
Permanent · Pleasanton
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Riverpark - Full Time
Permanent · Fresno
MACY'S
Asset Protection Security Guard, Mall at Greece Ridge Center - Full Time
Permanent · Rochester
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Lakeside - Full Time
Permanent · Sterling Heights
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Walt Whitman - Full Time
Permanent · Huntington Station
MACY'S
Retail Fulfillment Associate, Menlo Park - Full Time
Permanent · Edison
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Gurnee Mills - Full Time
Permanent · Gurnee
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, City Creek Center - Full Time
Permanent · Salt Lake City
MACY'S
Retail Fulfillment Associate, Maplewood - Full Time
Permanent · Maplewood
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Coral Square - Full Time
Permanent · Coral Springs
MACY'S
Asset Protection Captain, South Bay - Full Time
Permanent · Boston
MACY'S
Asset Protection Detective, Stockton Sherwood - Full Time
Permanent · Stockton
MACY'S
Retail Fulfillment Associate, Springfield - Full Time
Permanent · Springfield
JCPENNEY
Asset Protection Manager
Permanent · Boise
JCPENNEY
General Manager
Permanent · Farmington
JCPENNEY
Salon Manager
Permanent · Downey
Published
Nov 8, 2021
Reading time
3 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Click here to print
Text size
aA+ aA-

THG founder's comments prompt go-private speculation, shares rise

Published
Nov 8, 2021

There’s speculation that THG’s founder and CEO Matt Moulding could attempt to take the listed company private after he commented that he regrets listing the firm around a year ago. The company's shares rose over 5% in early trading on Monday as a result.


THG founder Matt Moulding


The company has seen its share price plunging in recent periods as investors questioned the firm’s future prospects and strategy, and also its corporate governance.

Moulding said in an interview with GQ, at the magazine’s GQ Heroes event, that he wished he’d floated the firm in New York rather than London and that its listing “just sucked from start to finish”. He also said he wouldn’t float the firm if he had the chance to do it again.

Moulding is currently the biggest shareholder in THG, its chief executive and executive chairman (although the firm is searching for an independent chairman), as well being its major landlord.

The business’s valuation has fallen by more than half since it floated in September 2020, even though the founder said it’s “in better shape than it’s ever been”.

Moulding hinted that a buy-back of the business could be a way forward.

“We do have other options in terms of I’m a big shareholder, more than half of the business is owned by me and a few people that I’m close with,” he said. “So, you know, the share price only moves because of the balance of shares that might trade around. So I’ll [keep an] open mind”.

Despite some investors selling out, early backers including Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital, CVC’s Dominic Murphy and ex-Tesco boss/new Morrisons chairman Sir Terry Leahy, remain supportive.

That said, Moulding is clearly bruised by the reaction of institutional investors in recent months and also said he’s found the process stressful. And there’s a part of him “that wants to take the Mike Ashley approach”. Frasers Group boss Ashley has famously gone his own way at the helm of the listed company that he founded and still controls and has been scathing about his critics.

Moulding meanwhile was also scathing about short-sellers — investors who ‘bet’ that a firm’s shares will continue to fall and strike deals that mean they profit when they do drop. 

He talked about a “pretty aggressive short attack”, although THG shares are near the end of the list of the 100 most shorted shares on the London Stock Exchange. In fact, investors are making more bets against a variety of London-listed shares including, Boohoo, M&S, ASOS, Superdry, N Brown, Coats Group and some of the UK’s biggest retail property firms.

But Moulding said “it’s the undisclosed shorts. So what you do is you don't let anyone know who you are. So you operate from the Bahamas or from Switzerland”.

Having said the wasn’t interest in floating the company some time ago, in answer to the question of why he did float the firm, Moulding also said in the interview that he “thought the pandemic, when it came, was going to be a big, big impact on business”. He was worried about the amount of debt the firm had and wanted to ensure the business was well capitalised. A listing was a good way of raising mega-money relatively quickly. 

And he hit back at critics of THG’s corporate governance with him in complete control of the company, saying: “Let's be clear, right? LVMH, just the same – from top to bottom, a fantastic business. And that's actually when you go across most [of] the beauty industry, across the tech industry, this is incredibly commonplace where we are. Even if you look at the City, all of your pension money, all of the fund managers in the world, the big major money managers, they've got the same set-up. So the difference is: the UK stock market, it's not common.”

Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.