SHARE OF THE WEEK: All eyes on troubled THG

All eyes will be on the outcome of troubled THG’s annual general meeting next week.

The ecommerce group faces a shareholder rebellion over one of its board members.

Investors are set to scrutinise the reappointment of a long-standing non-executive director at the AGM on June 21, citing independence concerns.

They have been urged to vote down the re-election of Iain McDonald by two advisory groups, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis. 

McDonald has been a board member since 2010 and now sits on committees overseeing executive pay, recruitment to the board and eco-friendliness.

ISS said he was ‘not considered to be independent’ as he has been on the board with THG founders Matt Moulding and John Gallemore for 13 years.

McDonald is also the founder of investment adviser Belerion Capital, which was involved in an unsuccessful bid for THG last year, alongside asset manager King Street Capital.

In its most recent annual report, THG said it ‘recognises the need for independent membership’ of the pay committee but ‘it would not be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders for Iain McDonald to step down’.

The owner of websites Lookfantastic and Myprotein is no stranger to turbulence amid a disastrous spell on the London Stock Exchange.

The shares listed at 500p in September 2020, giving THG a value of £5.4billion, and peaked close to 800p in early 2021. 

But they were changing hands for little more than 30p last year.