Revolution Beauty brushes off Boohoo spat with sales boost

The crisis-hit firm has clashed with its shareholder Boohoo throughout the week over how the business should be run.

Revolution Beauty enjoyed a boost in sales. (Revolution Beauty / PA)

Cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty has hailed a sales boost and revival of earnings, doubling down on its criticism of Boohoo’s attempted leadership upheaval.

The crisis-hit firm has clashed with its shareholder Boohoo throughout the week over how the business should be run.

Boohoo, the fast-fashion retailer with a 26.6% stake in Revolution Beauty, said on Monday it wants to replace the firm’s chief executive, chairman and chief financial officer with its own directors.

Revolution Beauty blasted the move as “value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving”, and urged its shareholders to vote in favour of reappointing the current team.

It also criticised Boohoo’s suggested appointment of Rachel Horsfield to the board, the former beauty boss of THG, stating it had recently ceased commercial relationships with the business.

On Friday it revealed that sales had jumped by 60% over the latest quarter, compared to the previous year. It also reported earnings of £3.5 million, swinging from a loss of £7.4 million.

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

Bob Holt, Revolution Beauty's chief executive

“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”, chief executive Bob Holt said.

“This has been 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.”

Revolution Beauty said earlier in the week it could take legal action against its founder and former chief executive Adam Minto after alleging he breached his duties to the firm.

Mr Minto resigned from the business in November after an investigation was launched. The probe flagged “serious issues” over the way the firm was run under its previous senior managers.

Its shares have been suspended from the AIM stock exchange since September.

Revolution Beauty was due to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) next week, but said it wants to postpone it to a later date, likely in late July or early August.