The Hut Group has posted an uplift in full-year sales and profits bolstered by international growth as the retailer scaled up investments across its brands and technology.

The beauty and wellbeing etail group posted a 31% boost in EBITDA to £91m in the year to December 31, 2018, driven by a 24% surge in group sales to £916m.

International sales comprised 66% of overall sales during the period, while 59% of sales came from the group’s in-house brands.

The retailer ploughed £180m worth of investments into its technology, infrastructure and beauty brand portfolio, spurred by the business increasing its banking facility to £795m during the year.

THG, which unveiled plans to open its first bricks-and-mortar outlet in Manchester last month, increased its workforce by 1,500 during the year, taking its overall headcount to over 5,000.

Founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding said: “This has been another landmark year for THG. Our strategic investments to develop our technology, infrastructure, brands and people have delivered exceptional global growth with 66% of our sales achieved internationally.

“THG’s investments during 2018 have been followed by further investments to date in 2019, resulting in over £850m ($1.1bn) of investment across beauty, technology and infrastructure since 2016 and the vote on Brexit. This scale of investment propels THG’s proposition across global markets, deepening our strategic advantage and enabling us to digitalise brands at scale.”