British beauty: THG bags makeup retailer Cult Beauty for £275m
Digital brands group THG has bought British makeup retailer Cult Beauty for £275m, which has bolstered the group’s brand offering by a further 200.
THG, which already owns Eyeko and Illamasqua, will also bag the online beauty retailer’s 1.7m customers and 1.6m Instagram followers – which prove to be quite the acquisition when dealing with digital-only brands.
Cult Beauty, which hosts around 300 third party brands like Charlotte Tilbury and Huda Beauty, will bolster THG’s portfolio at a time when online spending has never been higher.
The digital brands group has forecast the deal to bring in some £140m in additional sales, between 38 and 41 per cent more than before the acquisition.
In its full-year expectations for this year, the group has lifted its sales growth guidance to between 35 and 38 per cent, accounting for a further £2.1bn to £2.23bn in sales.
THG’s boss, Matthew Moulding, said that the deal will also help bag emerging indie brands, as the group typically works with more established brands in a loftier price range.
“Cult Beauty is frequently the partner of choice for emerging indie brands due to its personalised, content-led approach and an enthusiastic consumer base who are continually seeking new, innovative solutions to complement their beauty routines,” he explained.
“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.”