Revolution Beauty to face probe by UK conduct authority

Revolution Beauty appears to be in another spot of bother as it now faces an investigation into potential breaches of market abuse regulation between July 2021 and September 2022.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) notified the British beauty brand of the probe on Friday.

Last year, the company was subject to an independent investigation after auditors BDO LLP raised “serious concerns” in relation to its fiscal year 2022 audit.

It was later revealed that the firm had inflated its sales by nine million pounds in order to meet annual targets, with Revolution’s CEO at the time, Adam Minto, found to be partially responsible for the breach.

Minto, together with the company’s former executive chair Tom Allsworth, was accused of making a number of personal loans to distributors and an unnamed employee totalling around one million pounds.

There was further evidence that “materially larger than normal orders” had been placed by each of the distributors in question during February 2022.

As a result, Minto and Allsworth stepped down from their positions, with Bob Holt then appointed to the CEO role following the investigation’s conclusion.

The FCA announcement closely follows Revolution’s recent spat with majority shareholder Boohoo which, in response to the handling of its FY22 audit, had requested for a series of the company’s executives to resign.

Last week, the duo came to a settlement agreement through which Boohoo’s proposed board appointments stepped in, as the group looked to return the label to “sound financial help”.