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An activist investor in THG is reportedly set to vote against the reappointment of chair Charles Allen as it criticised the group’s “poor” share price and “major” strategic and structural issues.
According to The Financial Times, Kelso, a UK investment firm that owns about 0.5% of THG’s shares, said it was “disappointed” with the lack of progress in offloading some of the group’s divisions and moving its listing to the premium segment of the London market.
After listing at a £5.4bn valuation in 2020, shares in THG have slumped 90% since its IPO.
THG’s chief executive and co-founder, Matthew Moulding, has blamed the company’s troubles on a “broader wariness” from investors towards London-listed companies, as well as negative coverage from the media.
However, Kelso has argued that THG has to “take the blame” for its share price performance.
Kelso said: “Whilst major strategic and structural issues remain unaddressed, the poor share price cannot be blamed on the London Stock Exchange.”
In 2021, THG said its divisions would likely pursue “individual public market listings or partnerships, with THG retaining significant majority ownership”. However, a lack of progress in this move means that Kelso will vote against the re-election of Allen at THG’s annual meeting next month.
THG has previously said it would wait to see if the standard and premium segments of the London stock market would be replaced with a single listing category before making a change.
THG declined to comment.
