THG PLC’s (LON:THG) founder, executive chairman and chief executive Matthew Moulding is planning to donate £100mln of shares in the company to charity.
Moulding and his family established The Moulding Foundation last year and has now decided to transfer £100mln worth of listed ordinary THG shares into it.
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The Foundation is already active and recently pledged £5mln for the construction of a new campus at The Seashell Trust, a residential school for seriously disabled children based in the North West.
The share transfer will cut the stake owned by Moulding and his wife to 24% from 25% previously, which is worth around £2bn.
Moulding told the board he would not seek to profit from his post before debuting the market last September.
Instead, he committed to waiving his salary so that the group could make a charitable donation of similar value.
Between IPO and the end of 2020, THG donated £300,000 to various charities, instead of paying Matthew Moulding and Ingenuity’s chief executive John Gallemore their base salaries.
The board also assessed that Moulding should get his maximum bonus, but he waived it for the period as a listed business, equating to £187,500 for his performance in 2020.
Moulding will also donate 100% of the profit that landlord Moulding Capital generates over the next 100 years.
THG sold property assets to its founder ahead of the IPO, meaning it has to pay £19mln for rent each year, The Guardian reported.
Last August, THG entered a five-year agreement with Moulding Capital to provide property, facilities and project management services to the entity and its subsidiaries, generating £635,000 to THG annually, according to the final results published on Thursday.
The arrangement has been a concern for the City, considering that Moulding has already huge power in the company, being both executive chairman and chief executive, as well as owning a golden share.
Shares shed 4% to 677.58p on Thursday morning.