UK E-COMMERCE company The Hut Group (THG) said yesterday it has appointed a consulting firm to begin a search for a new independent chair for the company, in its latest attempt to appease City investors with doubts about the governance and transparency of the business.

Alongside its third quarter results yesterday, the group announced it had enlisted Russell Reynolds Associates for the job, further to its "ongoing review of corporate governance arrangements", which it claimed was part of the "step-up" process as it seeks premium status on the LSE.

It also announced it was bringing its major backer Softbank an inch closer with the appointment of the Japanese group's MD Dr Andreas Hanson as non-executive director, in a move that signals the Softbank deal is still on track.

Overall group sales increased 38 per cent on a constant currency basis in the third quarter, as group revenue rose to £507.7m from £378m in the same period last year.

The third quarter also saw the group acquire rival beauty e-commerce brand Cult Beauty for £275m, which it said it had migrated onto its Ingenuity platform "ahead of schedule".

CEO Matthew Moulding, who recently gave up his "golden share" as well as a share pledge in the business, said the Cult Beauty onboarding was down to the "resilience" of the digital team that had "seamlessly migrated" the business in under 10 weeks.

THG's white label business Ingenuity, which builds e-commerce platforms for consumer goods groups, has been at the heart of investor doubts that sent shares tumbling up to 36 per cent this month.

In the group's latest attempt to address their concerns over transparency, it said it was launching new regular KPI metrics for the previously opaque business section.

(c) 2021 City A.M., source Newspaper