THG has handed a dossier of data to the City regulator that chief executive Matt Moulding hopes will prove that hedge funds and stockbrokers colluded to drive down the online retailer’s share price.
In recent weeks, THG (formerly The Hut Group) has passed on what it believes to be irregular stock market trading and short-selling data to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Moulding is understood to be particularly suspicious of trading after THG’s investor day on October 12, when a raft of sell orders wiped almost £2 billion off the company’s valuation in a matter of hours.
THG has had a torrid first year since floating at a £5.4 billion valuation. Its shares rose at first, triggering a controversial £830 million share-based bonus for Moulding,
