Lush in legal row with ex-CEO following failure to record stake transfer

Former Lush CEO Andrew Gerrie has accused the homemade cosmetics retailer of failing to record the valid transfer of a 19.8% stake to his private ownership.

Silverwood Brands, a special-purpose acquisition company set up last year for which Gerrie is Executive Director, purchased the stake in December 2022 for £216.8 million. However, Silverwood accused Lush of not recording the transfer to its subsidiary, Cosmic Circles.

The retail chain said the sale "was not compliant with its articles of association". However, Andrew Gerrie was "disappointed by the response from Lush" and that it did not disclose why the acquisition was rejected.

Silverwood describes Gerrie as a Co-founder of Lush, whilst the retailer's website does not list him as one of its six Co-founders.

In a statement, Silverwood commented: "The company believes the transfer complied with Lush’s articles of association and therefore it believes Lush’s actions have no merit. The company is surprised that Lush is behaving in this manner and expects that ultimately it will stand by their ethos and avoid potentially prejudicing minority interests."

In response, Lush said the transfer from a shareholder (Gerrie and his wife) to another company was not compliant with its articles of association. Lush added: "Under UK law, the board of directors has a clear duty to ensure that all these regulations are complied with at all times."

This legal dispute follows the news that Lush has announced the appointment of Kasey Swithenbank as its new Lead Retailer for the UK & Ireland.