Revolution share price soars 58 per cent after Boohoo coup takes ugly turn at AGM
Boohoo blasted the board of Revolution and called for the removal of three senior members after its rocky AGM yesterday saw the trio all ousted – then reinstated.
The ugly row between Boohoo, which has a 26.6 per cent stake in the brand, continued late last night, as it led a successful vote to kick out Revolution Beauty’s chief executive, chief financial officer and chairman.
Plans to kick out the board members have been brewing over the past month – with Boohoo publicly revealing that it would vote against them and look to draft in pros from its retail team to inject the brand with extra e-commerce knowledge.
Shareholders voted chief executive Bob Holt, chairman Derek Zissman and chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake off the board by a majority of 75 per cent.
However, the trio were then reinstalled after remaining independent director Jeremy Schwartz “promptly used his powers” to reappoint all of the directors who had just been removed.
Following the drama at the AGM, Revolution Beauty’s share price soared 58 per cent, as analysts said investors want the war to calm down.
Boohoo told investors this morning that it had “serious concern” regarding the annual meeting, having previously described the actions of the cosmetics brand as “self-serving and not in the best interests of shareholders”.
It has now once again called for the removal of the board members and to draft in executive chairman of New Look, Alistair McGeorge, and the executive director at Boohoo, Neil Catto, as directors.
During the meeting the troubled makeup brand also allegedly attempted to hold its AGM without letting any shareholders vote on any matter, including tabled business or otherwise.
A source familiar with the situation told City A.M . that the AGM was completely “self serving”, noting that if the company had more prominence and greater scale its actions would be “blasted on the front page of every newspaper”.
Revolution Beauty had their shares suspended on the AIM last year after the company’s auditor flagged concerns about its accounts and Revolution failed to publish its financial results.
The ban was lifted this morning with its share price soaring 58.2 per cent.
“The return from suspension today is welcome news for investors and the shares have surged higher, although, at 29p, it is a long road back to the issue price of 160p from its 2021 IPO,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.
“You can see why Boohoo built its stake in Revolution Beauty in the first place. The brand does have strengths and spending on cosmetics is often fairly resilient in difficult economic conditions, while Boohoo offers Revolution Beauty a very useful sales channel.”
He added: “For the sake of other shareholders, both parties could do with putting the war of words behind them and working together constructively, whatever concessions this might require on both sides.”
Revolution Beauty was contacted for comment.