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Matthew Moulding, the boss of the online beauty, nutrition and technology services group THG, is to surrender his golden share in the company in an attempt to restore the City’s confidence after a torrid fortnight.

Sky News has learnt that the owner of The Hut Group, which floated just over a year ago, will announce next week that it plans to move its listing to the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange in 2022.

To pave the way for that, THG executive chairman and chief executive Mr Moulding will give up his ‘founder’s share’ – which would prevent a hostile takeover of the company – during the course of next year.

City sources said this weekend that the move would be announced next week, and possibly as early as Monday morning.

It will represent a bid by Mr Moulding, who is THG’s biggest shareholder with a 22% stake, to establish a more conventional corporate governance structure after a calamitous week in which the company lost billions of pounds of value.

The abolition of its dual-class share structure and the prospective shift to a premium LSE listing will be welcomed by institutional investors who saw the value of their holdings tumble this week.

Some fund managers had objected to the extent of Mr Moulding’s control ahead of its float last year, although THG said at the time that the ‘special share’ would be retired after a maximum of 36 months.

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A City ally of the THG supremo said the decision reflected “a willingness to listen to the views of outside shareholders” about the existence of the ‘special share’ structure.

“Matt wants to do the right thing by the investors which came in at the time of the IPO,” the source said.

One investor said on Saturday that Mr Moulding and boardroom colleagues were now also considering recruiting an independent chairman as part of the process of stepping up to the LSE’s premium segment.

The investor added that the corporate governance changes would be viewed as a positive step, but that it was now essential if the company was to restore confidence among its wider shareholder base.

Sky News has also learnt that THG has been in talks in recent days about appointing Andreas Hansson, a senior SoftBank executive, as a non-executive director.

Dr Hansson, a former executive at the SoftBank-owned chip designer ARM Holdings, is chairman of Kahoot, an education technology platform also backed by the Japanese group.

The appointment, which has yet to be finalised, would cement a relationship between THG and the Japanese technology investment behemoth that was unveiled in May.

Under their deal, SoftBank invested $730m in THG’s ordinary shares and took an option – exercisable over a maximum of two years – to buy a 19.9% stake in THG Ingenuity, the division which builds and operates e-commerce sites for third-party clients such as Homebase and Revolution Beauty, for $1.6bn.

That option remains in place, and people close to the situation insisted this weekend that they were confident that it would be exercised.

Appointing a board member to a public company in which it holds a stake would be a rare move for SoftBank, while the agreement of THG to award a board seat to a 6% shareholder underlined the fact that their relationship was “a genuine partnership”, an insider said.

At a capital markets day this week, Mr Moulding talked up the potential of Ingenuity, but immediately saw THG’s shares slump by more than 30% amid scepticism about the lack of granular financial detail provided about the unit.

The scale of the share price fall stunned the company and its longest-standing external shareholders, which include Chrysalis Investments, the highly regarded team which has backed Klarna and Wise, the fintech giants.

THG’s other investors ahead of the IPO included BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, and KKR, the New York-listed private equity investor.

The company, which is based in Manchester, has long been lauded as one of the UK’s biggest tech success stories, although there will now be intense pressure on its management to demonstrate that Ingenuity can become an engine of future earnings growth.

Since taking THG public, its executive chairman has cemented his status as one of Britain’s wealthiest people, landing a share windfall worth more than £800m late last year after hitting a number of financial targets set out in its flotation prospectus.

He already held a stake in the company worth about £1bn.

Earlier this year, Mr Moulding pledged a £100m stake in the company to a new charitable foundation, establishing him as one of Britain’s biggest individual philanthropists.

Nevertheless, THG’s promising debut on the public markets has been followed by a torrid period, with the shares more than halving during the last year.

As well as the proposed Ingenuity spin-off, it recently reiterated a plan to pursue a separate listing for its beauty division.

The company owns beauty sites such as Lookfantastic and Glossybox, and in August said it would pay about £275m to take control of Cult Beauty, a leading independent platform.

THG is also home to an online nutrition business, including MyProtein, which it says is the world’s largest sports nutrition brand.

Mr Moulding founded The Hut Group alongside John Gallemore – now its finance chief – in 2004, and it has since grown into a digital giant employing more than 10,000 people.

Ironically, his decision to surrender his golden share comes just months after a Treasury-sponsored review led by Lord Hill, the former EU commissioner, recommended that founders of fast-growing companies should be able to retain greater control after listing them through dual-class stock.

Deliveroo and Wise are the other main examples of tech companies which have floated using dual-class share structures this year.

THG floated at 500p-a-share, giving the company a market value of £4.5bn.

On Friday, the shares closed at 289.4p.

THG declined to comment on the looming governance changes.

Headline: Hut Group founder Moulding to give up golden share in bid to restore City confidence

Standfirst: The e-commerce group behind Cult Beauty and MyProtein is to apply for a premium London listing after a calamitous week that saw it shed billions of pounds of value, Sky News learns.

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Trump trade war escalation sparks global market sell-off

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Trump trade war escalation sparks global market sell-off

Donald Trump’s trade war escalation has sparked a global sell-off, with US stock markets seeing the biggest declines in a hit to values estimated above $2trn.

Tech and retail shares were among those worst hit when Wall Street opened for business, following on from a flight from risk across both Asia and Europe earlier in the day.

Analysis by the investment platform AJ Bell put the value of the peak losses among major indices at $2.2trn (£1.7trn).

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8%, the S&P 500 by 4.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 4% at the height of the declines. It left all three on course for their worst one-day losses since at least September 2022 though the sell-off later eased back slightly.

Trump latest: UK considers tariff retaliation

Analysts said the focus in the US was largely on the impact that the expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy but also effects on global sales given widespread anger abroad among the more than 180 nations and territories hit by reciprocal tariffs on Mr Trump‘s self-styled “liberation day”.

They are set to take effect next week, with tariffs on all car, steel and aluminium imports already in effect.

Price rises are a certainty in the world’s largest economy as the president’s additional tariffs kick in, with those charges expected to be passed on down supply chains to the end user.

The White House believes its tariffs regime will force employers to build factories and hire workers in the US to escape the charges.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

Economists warn the additional costs will add upward pressure to US inflation and potentially choke demand and hiring, ricking a slide towards recession.

Apple was among the biggest losers in cash terms in Thursday’s trading as its shares fell by almost 9%, leaving it on track for its worst daily performance since the start of the COVID pandemic.

Concerns among shareholders were said to include the prospects for US price hikes when its products are shipped to the US from Asia.

Other losers included Tesla, down by almost 6% and Nvidia down by more than 6%.

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PM: It’s ‘a new era’ for trade and economy

Many retail stocks including those for Target and Footlocker lost more than 10% of their respective market values.

The European Union is expected to retaliate in a bid to put pressure on the US to back down.

The prospect of a tit-for-tat trade war saw the CAC 40 in France and German DAX fall by more than 3.4% and 3% respectively.

The FTSE 100, which is internationally focused, was 1.6% lower by the close – a three-month low.

Financial stocks were worst hit with Asia-focused Standard Chartered bank enduring the worst fall in percentage terms of 13%, followed closely by its larger rival HSBC.

Among the stocks seeing big declines were those for big energy as oil Brent crude costs fell back by 6% to $70 due to expectations a trade war will hurt demand.

The more domestically relevant FTSE 250 was 2.2% lower.

A weakening dollar saw the pound briefly hit a six-month high against the US currency at $1.32.

There was a rush for safe haven gold earlier in the day as a new record high was struck though it was later trading down.

Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said of the state of play: “Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and trade.”

He warned there was a big risk of escalation ahead through countermeasures against the US.

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Sandra Ebner, senior economist at Union Investment, said: “We assume that the tariffs will not remain in place in the
announced range, but will instead be a starting point for further negotiations.

“Trump has set a maximum demand from which the level of tariffs should decrease”.

She added: “Since the measures would not affect all regions and sectors equally, there will be winners and losers as in 2018 – although the losers are more likely to be in the EU than in North America.

“To protect companies in Europe from the effects of tariffs, the EU should not respond with high counter-tariffs. In any case, their impact in the US is not likely to be significant. It would be more efficient to provide targeted support to EU companies in the form of investment and stimulus.”

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British businesses issue warning over ‘deeply troubling’ Trump tariffs

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British businesses issue warning over 'deeply troubling' Trump tariffs

British companies and business groups have expressed alarm over President Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK goods entering the US – but cautioned against retaliatory measures.

It comes as Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds launched a consultation with firms on taxes the UK could implement in response to the new levies.

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A 400-page list of 8,000 US goods that could be targeted by UK tariffs has been published, including items like whiskey and jeans.

On so-called “Liberation Day”, Mr Trump announced UK goods entering the US will be subject to a 10% tax while cars will be slapped with a 25% levy.

The government’s handling of tariff negotiations with the US to date has been praised by representative and industry bodies as being “cool” and “calm” – and they urged ministers to continue that approach by not retaliating.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

Business lobby group the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) said: “Retaliation will only add to supply chain disruption, slow down investment, and stoke volatility in prices”.

Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also cautioned: “Retaliatory tariffs should only be a last resort”.

‘Deeply troubling’

While a major category of exports, in the form of services – like finance and information technology (IT) – has been exempted from the tariffs, the impact on UK business is expected to be significant.

Mr Trump’s announcement was described as “deeply troubling for businesses” by the CBI’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith.

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also said the tariffs were “a major blow” to small and medium companies (SMEs), as 59% of small UK exporters sell to the US. It called for emergency government aid to help those affected.

“Tariffs will cause untold damage to small businesses trying to trade their way into profit while the domestic economy remains flat,” the FSB’s policy chair Tina McKenzie said. “The fallout will stifle growth” and “hurt opportunities”, she added.

Companies will need to adapt and overcome, the British Export Association said, but added: “Unfortunately adaptation will come at a cost that not all businesses will be able to bear.”

Watch dealer and component seller Darren Townend told Sky News the 10% hit would be “painful” as “people will buy less”.

“I am a fan of Trump, but this is nuts,” he said. “I expect some bad months ahead.”

Industry body Make UK said the 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium would in particular be devastating for UK manufacturing.

Cars hard hit

Carmakers are among the biggest losers from the world trade order reshuffle.

Auto industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the taxes were “deeply disappointing and potentially damaging measure”.

“These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers”, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. “UK producers may have to review output in the face of constrained demand”.

The new taxes on cars took effect on Thursday morning, while the measures impacting car parts are due to come in on 3 May.

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Trump trade war: The blunt calculation that should have spared UK from reciprocal tariffs

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Trump trade war: The blunt calculation that should have spared UK from reciprocal tariffs

Economists immediately started scratching their heads when Donald Trump raised his tariffs placard in the Rose Garden on Wednesday. 

On that list he detailed the rate the US believes it is being charged by each country, along with its response: A reciprocal tariff at half that rate.

So, take China for example. Donald Trump said his team had run the numbers and the world’s second-largest economy was implementing an effective tariff of 67% on US imports. The US is responding with 34%.

Trump latest: UK considers tariff retaliation

How did he come up with that 67%? This is where things get a bit murky. The US claims it studied its trading relationship with individual countries, examining non-tariff barriers as well as tariff barriers. That includes, for example, regulations that make it difficult for US exporters.

However, the actual methodology appears to be far cruder. Instead of responding to individual countries’ trade barriers, Trump is attacking those enjoying large trade surpluses with the US.

A formula released by the US trade representative laid this bare. It took the US’s trade deficit in goods with each country and divided that by imports from that country. That figure was then divided by two.

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So, in the case of China, which has a trade surplus of $295bn on total US exports of $438bn, that gives a ratio of 68%. The US divided that by two, giving a reciprocal tariff of 34%.

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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US

This is a blunt measure which targets big importers to the US, irrespective of the trade barriers they have erected. This is all part of Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the country’s deficit – although it’s US consumers who will end up paying the price.

But what about the small number of countries where the US has a trade surplus? Shouldn’t they actually be benefiting from all of this?

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That includes the UK, with whom the US has a surplus (by its own calculations) of $12bn. By its own reciprocal tariff formula, the UK should be benefitting from a “negative tariff” of 9%.

Instead, it has been hit by a 10% baseline tariff. Number 10 may be breathing a sigh of relief – the US could, after all, have gone after us for our 20% VAT rate on imports, which it takes issue with – but, by Trump’s own measure, we haven’t got off as lightly as we should have.

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