E-tail giant THG delivered its interim results on Tuesday and also said it’s looking at demerging its Ingenuity division that offers a full e-commerce service to third-parties.

It said it’s “actively undertaking detailed work to review potential structures to facilitate the demerger of THG Ingenuity. At this stage no certainty can be provided on a demerger timescale whilst we consider the options to achieve this outcome. Any proposed demerger is expected to require shareholder approval, accordingly further information, including details of the proposed demerger, will be provided to shareholders in due course”.

After such a demerger, the group would consist of THG Beauty and THG Nutrition, its two consumer businesses, which are “highly profitable, cash generative and capable of paying dividends”.

So what about those results? For the first half, group continuing revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth was 2.2% at constant currency and 1.6%, respectively.

It saw record H1 adjusted EBITDA across Beauty and Ingenuity “helping to offset transitory headwinds in Nutrition”.

Despite the constant currency revenue growth of 2.2%, on a reported basis continuing revenue only rose 0.1% to £911.1 million. And total revenue fell 3.6% to £934 million.

Continuing adjusted EBITDA was, as mentioned, up 1.6% at £52.3 million.

Looking at the areas that are particularly relevant to our readers, revenue at THG beauty rose 5.7% to £531 million and at THG Ingenuity (which is external revenue) it rose 12.6% to £80.2 million.

In the first half, the company said a “standout performance” was delivered by THG Beauty with a record H1 adjusted EBITDA of £32.6 million, up from £12.1 million, following the successful execution of the market prioritisation strategy, retail and own-brand revenue growth.

Active customers rose 1.6% and reflect the strategic decision to target marketing investment towards more profitable territories and products, whilst retaining higher-spending and higher-frequency customers. This improvement in mix is delivering greater profitability per order across a more efficient cost base. Active customers were in growth across the UK, US and MENA key markets.

The second half of the year remains the group’s most profitable and cash generative period, with revenue growth and seasonal weighting in Beauty and Ingenuity expected to largely mitigate the Nutrition decline.

Beauty and Ingenuity should deliver year on year adjusted EBITDA margin progression for the full year, with Ingenuity adjusted EBITDA anticipated to be ahead of market expectations, following the strong H1 performance and new customer wins in Q3.