Type Private Area served Worldwide Headquarters Northwich, United Kingdom Founder Matthew Moulding | Industry Retail & Technology Products Various Number of employees 1000+ Founded 2004 | |
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Founders Matthew Moulding
John Gallemore Key people Richard Pennycook (Chairman)
Matthew Moulding (CEO, Founder) CEO Matthew Moulding (Jul 2004–) Divisions Retail & Technology Services Subsidiaries Myprotein, Mankind Direct Limited, Bike Kit Ltd Profiles | ||
The Hut Group is a British e-commerce company with headquarters in Northwich, Cheshire. Operating over 100 international websites that sell premium Fast-moving consumer goods ("FMCG") direct to consumer in the Health and Beauty markets through its proprietary technology and operating platform.
Contents
- Matthew moulding chief executive of the hut group talks about the company s export strategy
- History
- Locations
- Talent
- Awards
- Ownership
- Acquisitions
- Litigation
- References
The company is led by founder and CEO Matthew Moulding, chaired by Richard Pennycook and backed by investors KKR, BlackRock, Sofina and Balderton Capital as well as senior retailers Sir Terry Leahy and Lord Rose.
The Hut Group regards itself as Europe's fastest growing Health and Beauty online retailer. As of 2015, The Hut Group's sales have predominantly been outside of the UK.
Matthew moulding chief executive of the hut group talks about the company s export strategy
History
The Hut Group was founded in 2004 by Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore, when Matthew bought a CD online at a price much cheaper than in store and realised the disruptive potential of online retail. Matthew launched the company with a £500,000 investment and a focus on entertainment products such as Music and Gaming.
In order to build up revenues and profitability, The Hut Group used its proprietary technology platform as a whitelabel solution for large physical retailers who wanted to go online. This included ASDA, Argos Entertainment, Tesco and WHSmith.
Locations
The Hut Group's main headquarters is in Gadbrook Park, Cheshire. Part of the Northern Powerhouse, it is one of 20 tech British-based Unicorns as of 2016.
Talent
The Hut Group is noted for its unorthodox talent model based on the accelerated promotion of young graduates into leadership positions very early on in their career. These include the promotion of a Physics graduate to become a divisional CEO aged 26 and the hiring of a top Computer Science graduate from Cambridge.
Other unorthodox approaches include its high prize money technology competitions for undergraduates.
Awards
In November 2008, the Hut Group won the Bank of Scotland North West Entrepreneur Challenge, with the prize of a £5 million interest free loan. On 5 February 2009, the company was voted the United Kingdom's best entrepreneur after beating the other regional finalists.
In September 2009 The Hut Group topped the Tech Track 100 list of fastest growing technology companies in the United Kingdom.
In April 2013, Mybag.com, the Hut Group's footwear store won the Draper's Footwear and/or Accessories Etailer of the Year.
In April 2014, The Hut Group, topped the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 list of Britain's private companies with the fastest growing profits.
In April 2015, The Hut Group topped the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 list of Britain's private companies with the fastest growing profits for the second year running. Profits grew an average of 217% a year from £503,000 in 2011 to £16m in 2014.
In July 2016, The Hut Group announced it had bought Hale Country Club and Spa, a 50,000 sq ft fitness and beauty facility located in Wythenshawe.
Ownership
Chaired by Richard Pennycook, the chief executive of the Co-operative Group, its investors include Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief executive, and Lord Rose, the chairman of Ocado and Britain Stronger in Europe. In 2014, the company sold a 19.2% stake to KKR, one of the world's leading private equity firms, while Balderton Capital, a technology investor, owns an identical stake. BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager is also a shareholder and invested £138m in February 2016.
In May 2016, Sofina announced an undisclosed equity stake in The Hut Group.
Acquisitions
The Hut Group has pursued an acquisition strategy of mainly taking full ownership of E-Commerce businesses in a variety of retail sectors and putting the websites onto its proprietary technology platform. In 2016, the group made its first ever physical retail acquisition with the purchase of Hale Country Club & Spa.
Litigation
Oliver Cookson was involved in a long running case of litigation with The Hut Group over the sale of Myprotein in 2011. Cookson was sued for £15 million with The Hut Group claiming overestimation affected the valuation of the company when they bought it. Cookson counter sued for £12.7 million claiming a breach of warranty and fraudulent mis-representation. The matter went to the High Court in London in October 2014 and after a month-long trial judgement was given by William Blair in November 2014 giving Oliver Cookson an overall net result win of £6.5m in damages.
At the costs hearing in December 2014, the judge awarded a payment of just under £7.5 million to be made by The Hut Group to Cookson and the Trust in respect of all of the claims and counterclaims in the action and one third of the costs incurred by Mr Cookson and the Trust.
Oliver Cookson and the Trust appealed the court's decision to award The Hut Groups damages. The court of appeal dismissed the appeal on the 22 March 2016.