Hut Group revenues hit ‘record’ £2.2bn in FY21

The Hut Group has seen its full-year revenues soar 91% on a two-year basis, with sales hitting a “record” £2.2bn following a year of investment into its infrastructure, technology and M&A. It comes as revenue in its golden quarter topped £712m, rising by 92% on a two-year basis, with particularly strong sales across its Beauty business, which saw revenues rise by 133% on the same basis. On a year-on-year basis, Q4 2021 revenue growth was 29.7%, as an accelerated momentum in organic sales during the peak period underpinned a full year revenue increase of 37.9%. Currently, the group said that momentum coming into 2022 “remains strong” following the acceleration in organic revenue growth in Q4 against the previous quarter, as well as the “substantial” pipeline of site launches within THG Ingenuity. It noted that while the early part of 2022 is “expected to be a more challenging comparable period” due to lockdowns in H1 2021, it still expects FY 2022 revenue growth of 22% to 25%. However, its FY 2021 adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be in the range of 7.4% to 7.7%, compared to previous expectations of 7.9%. Nonetheless, it expects adjusted EBITDA margins to improve throughout the year as it “sees the benefits of 2021 investments in automation offsetting inflationary pressures”. Matthew Moulding, CEO said: "We are delighted to report significant growth across all divisions during the peak Q4 trading period and to have delivered record annual sales of £2.2bn. "2021 marked our first full year as a public company and I would like to express my gratitude to all THG colleagues for their dedication and hard work in helping us achieve such a strong performance for the year. Despite challenging conditions, we have scaled revenue and expanded our business model, particularly THG Ingenuity, well ahead of expectations given at our IPO 16 months ago.” He added: “At the same time, we welcomed c.3,000 new employees across the world to the group, the majority of whom are within the U.K., and completed many transformational projects, including the opening of our 1m sq. ft. U.K. technology campus, ICON. "During the year, the group also invested around one billion pounds across infrastructure, technology and M&A to further develop the long-term growth prospects of our key trading divisions. We remain committed to our strategy of investing for growth across our global fulfilment network and technology platform. The new year has started well, and we remain confident in delivering our strategic growth plans during 2022 and beyond."