Revolution Beauty posts H1 revenue drop, but losses narrow

Revolution Beauty Group has narrowed its losses in the first half of the year despite reporting a 4.3 percent drop in revenue driven by weaker digital sales.

The British beauty company generated H1 sales of 75.3 million pounds, down from 78.6 million pounds a year earlier, according to its unaudited results for the six months ended August 31.

UK stores revenue increased 21 percent thanks to new distribution in Boots and a “good performance” across Superdrug stores, but Rest of the World sales fell 6 percent, which it said was primarily due to the timing of order placings.

Digital wholesale revenue was down 22 percent, while the company’s own web store sales fell 8 percent.

“The half was one where our digital business was impacted by consumers moving back to bricks-and-mortar retail stores post-pandemic, but where Revolution's omni-channel retail strategy mitigated the decline, with solid retail performances in our key markets,” CEO Bob Holt said in a statement.

Despite the overall decline in sales, the company managed to narrow its loss after tax to 13.4 million pounds from 28.9 million pounds a year earlier, while its adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to 7.5 million pounds from a loss of 9.5 million pounds.

Revolution Beauty said it has seen “encouraging trading” in FY24 so far, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA at the end of Q1 in line with internal forecasts.

“The sell through in key retailers has been strong, despite the cost-of-living crisis, demonstrating the strength of our brand and price proposition,” the company said. “The global outlook for the beauty business continues to grow.”

Revolution Beauty said it expects FY24 revenue to grow in the high single digits, and constant currency adjusted EBITDA to be in the high single digit millions.

Last week, Revolution beauty announced that co-founder Tom Allsworth would be stepping down from his position as non-executive chairman, and would be succeeded by senior non-executive director Derek Zissman.

Zissman has been at Revolution Beauty since its IPO in July 2021, and most recently led the structural and governance changes enacted after an investigation found the company inflated its FY22 sales figures in order to meet annual targets.