Revolution Beauty brands Boohoo's attempted coup as "opportunistic and self-serving"

Revolution Beauty has labelled Boohoo's plans to remove three of its top bosses as "value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving".

Earlier this week, Boohoo announced its plans to vote against the reappointment of Revolution Beauty’s CEO Bob Holt, Chairman Derek Zissman and CFO Elizabeth Lake at the firm’s upcoming annual general meeting for shareholders on 27 June 2023.

It requested to replace the three bosses with Boohoo Non-Executive Director and former New Look Chairman Alistair McGeorge as Interim Executive Chairman, and ex-Boohoo finance boss Neil Catto as CFO.

“As Revolution Beauty transitions to its next phase, where the focus must switch to growth, Boohoo believes a senior leadership team with the right retail, e-commerce and consumer brands experience is required to deliver shareholder value," Boohoo said at the time.

In response to this, Revolution Beauty has today issued a statement sharing that "Boohoo's hostile requisition is value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving, as well as not being in the interests of the company's shareholders as a whole". 

Derek Zissman, Chair of Revolution Beauty, added: "Over the last 12 months, we have acted decisively to protect the value of Revolution Beauty for the benefit of all our stakeholders. This has included an almost total change in the composition of the board, including the appointment of Bob and Elizabeth as the new CEO and CFO, respectively. They have worked tirelessly to put Revolution Beauty on a more stable footing and ensure it is well-placed for future growth.

"That is a process that is ongoing, and Boohoo's actions are a clear attempt to destabilise the business at a crucial juncture in its recovery. This will only serve to delay further the lifting of the suspension of trading in Revolution Beauty's shares.

"I urge shareholders to vote in favour of reappointing the current directors of the board and allow the management team to finish the job in hand."

Within the statement, Revolution Beauty said the group is currently "trading well" and expects to deliver high single-digit growth in revenue for the year ending 28 February 2024.

It also acknowledged that the current directors and management team have navigated Revolution Beauty out of the chaos arising from the historical management and governance issues within the business.

Revolution Beauty has seen its shares suspended since September last year after auditors refused to sign off its accounts for the last financial year, which sparked an investigation into its finances.

In January, the independent investigation found Revolution Beauty had inflated sales by £9 million to meet annual targets and unearthed concerns with the group’s accounts, including claims that personal loans were made by Co-founders Adam Minto and Tom Allsworth to an employee and distributors.

The probe also alleged that insufficient checks had been made on acquisitions.

Yesterday, Revolution Beauty revealed possible legal action against its founder and former chief executive Adam Minto. The group said it sent a letter of claim to Minto last month alleging that he breached his duties to the firm.