THG stands by director Iain McDonald despite shareholder opposition

Digital retail firm THG has said that it would continue on with Iain McDonald as a director of the company, despite facing opposition from shareholders.

In June 2023, a quarter of the company’s shareholders had voted against McDonald’s re-election, and despite the executive agreeing to step down from THG’s Remuneration Committee, the company is continuing to stand by his position as director.

In a regulatory filing, THG said that the board was “disappointed” by the votes against McDonald during its 2023 annual general meeting, yet clarified that he was regarded as a “valuable member of the board”, offering “extensive financial and remuneration expertise and investment acumen”.

THG further noted that “it takes seriously its responsibilities to represent the interests of shareholders and to uphold the highest standards of corporate governance and, as stated at the time, is open to constructive dialogue with shareholders and shareholder bodies”.

The news comes as THG continues to experience an ongoing power struggle among shareholders in light of lacklustre financial performance, one of which had amped up a break-up campaign in early December.

Activist shareholder Kelso had initially started applying pressure on THG back in April, calling on the board to do more in order to ensure the company’s share price reflected its intrinsic value.

It later requested for the company to de-merge its three divisions, consisting of a beauty business, nutrition subsidiary and e-commerce service platform dubbed Ingenuity, a move it said could help tackle the “inherent disparity between THG’s share price and true value”.