Revolution Beauty and shareholder Boohoo exchanged fresh blows this morning, amid an escalating row over a boardroom overhaul.
Revolution Beauty said it was “extremely ironic that Boohoo look to highlight Revolution Beauty, in their view, ‘contravening best practice in relation to corporate governance’.”
It comes after Boohoo led a vote against Revolution Beauty’s directors at the beauty company’s annual general meeting this week. Boohoo holds around a 26pc stake in Revolution Beauty, and has been seeking to appoint its own candidates to the board.
Of the shareholders who voted at the AGM, 75pc did so against the chief executive, chairman and chief financial officer. All three were later rehired by Revolution Beauty – which it said was done to return its shares to trading. They were given share options in return for ending a suspension.
However, Boohoo raised concerns over bosses being handed the share options after being ousted in a majority vote, questioning whether the terms of the payouts had been amended after it said it would vote against them.
Revolution Beauty on Friday said the terms had not been amended, and lashed out this morning at its shareholder, saying:
“As shareholders will be aware, Boohoo has a long and well documented track record of substandard corporate governance and legal, reputational, supply chain and shareholder engagement issues.
“In contrast to the largesse demonstrated on a consistent basis by Boohoo, the company’s grant of options is entirely fair and reasonable, and well within market practice norms.”
It pointed to Boohoo’s own share price slump and fall in revenues, and said it “questions if Boohoo is an appropriate owner of Revolution Beauty from a financial point of view”.
A vote will take place on Boohoo’s candidates for the Revolution Beauty board later this summer.
Boohoo responded to the comments, saying:
“We retain serious concerns about the Revolution Beauty board’s conduct and actions, both at its AGM and since.
“As its largest shareholder, we continue to strongly believe Revolution Beauty needs to be run by an effective and experienced team with directly relevant beauty experience. We have outlined a proposal to effect this while being committing to ensuring the business has a majority independent board.
“Certain Revolution Beauty directors should not be in situ, having already been voted off once by a c75pc majority. The total disregard for the expressed wishes of shareholders justifies why they need to be voted off a second time at our requisitioned general meeting.”
