The Hut Group Limited (“the Group”), one of the world’s largest and fastest growing online Health and Beauty brand owner and retailers, today announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2014.
Financial Highlights
- Group sales* up 39% to £244m (2013: £176m)
- International sales up 74% to £113.3m (2013: £65m)
- Underlying Earnings (EBITDA) up 50% to £22.6m; significantly ahead of revenue growth and demonstrating the Group’s operating leverage
- Strong growth in own brand and international revenues, representing 43% and 46% of total revenues respectively
- A substantial increase in cash generation, with £38.2m of cash generated from operating activities (2013: £22.3m) and a £54.6m year-end cash position (2013: £24.0m)
- A new £80m banking facility agreed with Barclays, HSBC and Santander, providing substantial capacity for further strategic initiatives
*Excluding discontinued white-label sales
Operational Highlights
- £100m invested in new world class distribution and manufacturing centre of excellence. Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the investment, which will create 2,000 new jobs over the next three years
- £15m invested in developing the Group’s proprietary technology platform, launching 17 new international websites and bringing the number of languages the Group now trades in to 20
- 13m orders shipped to 190 countries, demonstrating the global scale of the Group’s operating platform
- 382 new world class jobs created in the year, including 40 technology recruits , 40 international recruits and 75 graduates from the Russell Group of Universities and other top European institutions
- KKR and BlackRock acquired shareholdings in July 2014
- Winner of the 2015 Sunday Times Profit Track Award as the company with the fastest growing profits in Britain over the last three years. The Group also topped the Profit Track in 2014 and is the first company to win in successive years
Matthew Moulding, Chief Executive of The Hut Group, commented:
“2014 was a milestone year for The Hut Group, with record breaking revenue and earnings and strong international growth further cementing our position as one of the world’s largest and fastest growing online Health and Beauty businesses.
“Over the course of the year, we made a number of major investments, launching 17 international websites and building a bespoke distribution and manufacturing centre of excellence. This followed the opening of our Innovation & Growth Hub in 2013 and underlines our ambition to develop as a world class British export success. We are also proud of our investment in talent, creating nearly 400 high-quality jobs in the year and attracting some world-class technologists and graduates to our home in the North West.
“Our focus is to further develop our own brand strategy and technology platform, underpinning our strong international growth and continuing differentiation. This year will see us launch another 12 international sites – including our first in Chinese – and will see our distribution and manufacturing centre of excellence become fully operational in H2. With consumer sentiment becoming increasingly positive and with clear opportunities for further growth in front of us, we believe 2015 could be another strong year for the Group.”