​THG’s trading statement on Thursday hailed strength in its Beauty division as the company also said the demerger of its THG Ingenuity operation is complete.

This leaves THG as “a global, cash generative, health & wellness consumer brands group” with a big presence in the beauty e-tail market.

So looking specifically at the Beauty division, the company said revenue reached £1.108 billion for the full year, which was an increase of 4.6% at constant currency or 3.3% on a reported basis. 

And the company seemed very happy with this, despite Q4 Beauty revenue of £348.4 million being up only 0.8% constant currency and falling 1.3% reported. It had performed better earlier in the year with a double-digit increase in Q1 and rises between 2% and 3% in Q2 and Q3.

THG has been exiting loss-making categories and within own-brand beauty, had taken the decision to withdraw from cosmetics and ‘masstige’ products “to focus on the more prominent growth opportunities in prestige skincare, spa and specialist products”. And although Beauty’s performance was far-from-stellar in Q4 specifically, it said “this strategy is delivering margin enhancements from a more focused, relevant consumer offering”.

It also said that across the year it saw “broad and consistent gains across skin, cosmetics and fragrance categories in the UK, offsetting a transitional year for its THG Nutrition division. 

Average order values were up 8% on its Lookfantastic UK beauty e-tail site and conversion rates via apps continued to increase vs other channels.

It saw a strong retail and own-brand performance in beauty with growth in every quarter when manufacturing is excluded. 

And it added that during the last 18 months, “refinements to the operating model, marketing strategy and ongoing portfolio management has driven beneficial movements in retention, order frequency and customer lifetime value. This is demonstrated by a growing Lookfantastic loyalty scheme” with 2.8 million members.

In fact, across the wider UK online beauty market, THG’s Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic were the only two participants to grow their brand share of search, “strategically important as we consciously shift our marketing efforts to a brand-centric approach with customers meeting our ideal beauty profile, less reliant on price in the long term”.

In the UK, all categories saw year-on-year growth over the peak trading period with fragrance being the standout performer (its order value rose 32%). Lookfantastic also recorded “twice as many visits over the cyber period than the nearest beauty peer”.

CEO Matthew Moulding said that “our Beauty business had a standout year, underpinned by strong performances in the UK and US. The continued success of our customer loyalty and reward program, and the opening of our first-ever Lookfantastic physical store, further cement our leadership position in the global Beauty market. These achievements demonstrated significant progress against our strategic priorities and set the stage for an even more remarkable 2025”.