Revolution v Boohoo: Boss could quit to help end the battle of the brands
It has been reported that the boss of troubled makeup brand Revolution Beauty, Bob Holt, may step down from to help resolve an ongoing row with its leading shareholder Boohoo.
Tensions between the companies appeared to cool yesterday after Revolution said it would hold a general meeting on August 8th, which would include a resolution to remove Holt as chief executive.
“The board believes that a compromise position with Boohoo is close and could be reached in the coming days,” Revolution said yesterday.
But Sky News reported today that Holt could step down before the August vote.
Both Revolution and Boohoo declined to comment on the report.
Holt was one of the three senior figures that Boohoo wanted to remove from the company as part of a shake-up of the beauty brand’s top team.
Boohoo, which owns a 26.6 per cent stake in Revolution, put forward its plan to oust Holt and two other top bosses during the Revolution’s AGM last month, with 75 per cent of shareholders voting in favour of the shake-up.
However, Holt and co. were dramatically reinstated by independent director Jeremy Schwartz, as he was the last remaining director on the board, and in order for the company to relist its shares on the AIM it needed to have a board of directors in place.
The companies have continued to argue since the AGM, with Boohoo furious at Revolution’s decision to hand share awards to executive directors that shareholders had previously voted off the board.
The share awards, which are nil cost meaning they are free, were granted upon Revolution Beauty’s trading suspension lifting and were valued at a total of £2.7m (as per a 24.5p share price.)
The awards were not put to a shareholder vote, contravening corporate governance norms, Boohoo argued.
On Sunday, Sky News reported that Boohoo was preparing a complaint to the junior stock market regulator seeking clarity on a note published by Revolution where it was suggested that the fast fashion brand attempted to obstruct efforts to finalise its accounts.
However, City A.M understands that this letter of complaint has not yet been filed to the regulator.