Boohoo hits out at Revolution share awards

Boohoo Group has criticised Revolution Beauty Group for granting free share options to its executive management team, just days after they were ousted and then immediately reinstated.

Boohoo, which owns 26.6% of the cosmetics group, called on Revolution to publish the terms of the free share awards granted to chief executive Bob Holt and chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake.

It also wants Revolution to confirm publicly that the proposed terms were not amended after Boohoo’s announcement, made on 19 June, that it would be voting against their reappointment at the annual general meeting, held earlier this week.

The online retailer argued that no investors had been consulted prior to the awards being granted, despite them representing a 3.4% dilutive impact for existing Revolution shareholders.

It continued: “The only disclosure Revolution Beauty has made around the terms of the free share awards prior to today’s announcement is five sentences hidden in its annual report.

“This all demonstrates a lack of transparency and actions which are self-serving and not in the best interests of shareholders.”

Revolution and Boohoo locked horns after the fast fashion retailer called for Holt, Lake and chair Derek Zissman to be removed and replaced by Alistair McGeorge and Neil Catto as interim executive chair and chief financial officer respectively.

McGeorge is Boohoo’s deputy chair, while Catto is a previous executive director of the retailer.

A majority of investors voted to remove Holt, Lake and Zissman at the AGM on Tuesday. However, they were then reinstated after the meeting by independent director Jeremy Schwartz.

Revolution, which has been rocked by an accountancy scandal, has called Boohoo’s actions “value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving”. It has also accused Boohoo of trying to take control of the business without buying it outright.

Revolution was thrown into crisis last summer, when its auditors questioned its financial accounts and it failed to published 2022 annual results.

Trading in its shares, which were suspended at 19p in September, resumed on Wednesday. As at 1015 BST on Thursday, the stock was up 6% at 26.05p, while shares in Boohoo were down 1% at 34p. Both companies are listed on Aim.

Boohoo said that the share awards – worth around £2m on readmission – had been made to Holt, Lake and 16 other members of the management team. It said the team had “worked tirelessly for the last 10 months towards resolving the historical issues which have resulted in many detrimental outcomes for the company’s shareholders and other stakeholders”.