Revolution Beauty hails ‘excellent’ Q1, opposes Boohoo’s board proposals

Revolution Beauty said Friday that trading in the first three months of the year has been “excellent” as it tussles with major shareholder Boohoo over a proposed boardroom shake-up.

The British beauty giant said it swung to a Q1 EBITDA profit of 3.5 million pounds from a loss of 7.4 million pounds a year earlier, while sales jumped 60 percent.

It comes after Boohoo - the largest single shareholder in Revolution Beauty with a 26.6 percent stake - said last week it will vote against the reappointment of Revolution CEO Bob Holt, chairman Derek Zissman, and finance boss Elizabeth Lake at the upcoming AGM meeting on June 27.

Boohoo has proposed three replacement board members: former New Look chair Alistair McGeorge, former Boohoo finance chief Neil Catto, and former THG Beauty CEO Rachel Horsefield.

The group said it expects McGeorge to become interim executive chair and Catto to become CFO.

Boohoo said the changes were necessary to “take Revolution Beauty into its next phase, which must focus on growth”.

Revolution claims board changes unnecessary

Revolution said Friday it was “appropriate” to share its strong Q1 results “in light of the hostile requisition notice” received by Boohoo.

It said it hopes “shareholders are reassured that the current board is similarly minded and that growth is being delivered without one shareholder taking control of the board at the expense of the interests of other shareholders”.

Revolution Beauty CEO Bob Holt said: “The excellent trading performance in the first quarter of the year is testament to the quality of our offer and the strength of our leadership team, and shows that we are delivering on our global retailer strategy.”

Holt also noted the growth was “achieved at the same time as fixing the historical issues overseen by previous management and putting in place improved cost controls and processes across the business”, referring to an investigation earlier this year which found the company had inflated FY22 sales by 9 million pounds in order to meet annual targets.

Following the investigation, co-founder and chair Tom Allsworth stepped down. He was replaced by the company’s senior non-executive director Derek Zissman.