“This is fantastic opportunity for me to continue to grow the DVD and Blu-ray categories across our portfolio, but lead all the entertainment product categories to deliver better processes and closer relationships with our supplier base, which will benefit business and most importantly our millions of customers” commented, Markus Bhatia.

The Hut Group, now reporting to OCC has seen its market share in DVD & Blu-ray increase by over 150% in the last 6 months,

Matt Moulding, The Hut Group’s CEO said, “Markus is incredibly well respected in the entertainment industry and has delivered considerable incremental growth with DVD & Blu-ray since joining us, he’s an asset and I’m pleased to have him in our senior team, delivering the same expansion in Games, Music & Books”

About The Hut Group

Based in Northwich, Cheshire, The Hut Group was established in 2004 by entrepreneurs, Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore. The Hut Group delivers a white label ecommerce service for a number of major retailers including ASDA, Woolworths, Argos and WHSmith.

The Hut Group also has two successful etail brands within its portfolio. TheHut.com is a multi-channel retailer offering a variety of home entertainment and lifestyle products, such as DVDs, Blu-ray and CDs, as well as lingerie, cosmetics and sports and leisure equipment.

High street brand Zavvi was acquired by The Hut Group in March 2009 and is now a thriving online-only retailer. The refreshed Zavvi website offers customers a wider choice of entertainment products, with free delivery.

A Sunday Times Tech Track company, The Hut Group is the fastest growing technology company in the North West and is ranked 8th in the UK.

For further information, please visit www.thehut.com, www.zavvi.co.uk or www.thehutgroup.com or follow us on Twitter: @thehut_com and @zavvionline

Clearwater Corporate Finance advised The Hut Group on the deal, which will see the creation of up to 100 jobs over the next 12 months at their head office in Northwich, Cheshire, where the company also runs TheHut.com.

The new Zavvi website will offer consumers a much broader range of entertainment products as well as a new range of lifestyle products, including electricals, computing & perfumes. Zavvi.co.uk will be driven by a major focus on delivering exceptional customer service and product availability at much lower price points than previously on offer. Free delivery will be standard on all products sold on the Zavvi website. Today’s launch of Zavvi.co.uk will be supported by an extra 10 per cent discount across all products until midnight on Friday 6 March.

Matthew Moulding, CEO of The Hut Group, comments, “Zavvi is a major player in entertainment retail, both in the UK and Ireland. Our aim is to capitalise on this well recognised high street brand and transform the business into a leading class online retailer, not only in entertainment, but also across lifestyle products. The new discounted price points, supported by significant future investment in customer driven functionality improvements, should enable us to create an exciting online retailer.

“The team is excited about the opportunities this acquisition presents and the growth plans across The Group will be supported by our continuing drive to add talented new members to the team across most disciplines.”

In addition to TheHut.com, The Hut Group delivers complete online retail platforms for many major retail brands such as Asda, WH Smith, Phones 4U & LoveFilm. The Group anticipates achieving sales of more than £75 million in 2009, having achieved a turnover of £25 million in 2008. The Hut Group currently employs over 100 people.

Carl Houghton, partner with Clearwater Corporate Finance added; “The Hut Group is a welcome bright spot amidst the doom and gloom in the retail sector. Through mergers and acquisitions, The Hut Group intends to push into further categories and is a transformational partner for good but subscale B2C ecommerce businesses.”