Boohoo Group and Revolution Beauty reach settlement agreement

Following a long-winded public spat between Revolution Beauty and its majority shareholder Boohoo Group, the duo have now said that a settlement agreement has been reached, which will see the beauty firm’s board implement some major changes.

Among the shifts, Revolution’s current non-executive chairman Derek Zissman and its CEO Bob Holt have agreed to resign from the board. Holt will remain with the business as interim CEO until August 31.

Meanwhile, the previously proposed board appointments from Boohoo, which owns a 26 percent stake in Revolution, will be joining the company.

Former Matalan CEO Alistair McGeorge will succeed Zissman as executive chairman and Neil Catto will become non-independent non-executive director, while Rachel Horsefield and Peter Hallett have been appointed as independent non-executive directors.

Revolution’s Elizabeth Lake will remain on as chief financial officer, with Boohoo noting that its newly appointed board members will support her in “restoring the company to sound financial health”.

She will continue on the board in order to push through the FY23 accounts, avoiding their delay and therefore the threat of the company’s AIM trading, which had previously been suspended in light of faulty reports last year.

Revolution Beauty CEO and chairman agree to resign

The company will then retain its existing leadership team during an interim period, while the search for a new CEO commences.

Boohoo has further agreed to withdraw its requisition of a general meeting of Revolution, bringing to an end any uncertainty that had first been ignited back in June.

Despite this, the board is still required to hold a general meeting on August 7, however it intends to adjourn the meeting indefinitely so that there will be a no vote on any of Boohoo’s first proposed resolutions, one of which initially requested the removal of Lake from the board.

Revolution’s independent directors said in a regulatory filing that the settlement agreements were “in the best interests of the company and its shareholders”, avoiding ongoing costs and disruptions that could be brought on by any alternative actions.

The deal brings to an end an ongoing dispute between the two companies that was first triggered by an independent investigation into Revolution’s accounts last year, which revealed massively inflated sales and resulted in the stepping down of the company’s co-founders.

Boohoo first showed signs of upset in early June, when it said it would be voting against the reappointment of the beauty firm’s board directors and proposed its own, to which Revolution brandished the requests as “value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving”.

Following a series of back and forths, Revolution confirmed last week that a compromise position was drawing near.