// Boohoo is to vote against the reappointment of Revolution Beauty CEO, chair and CFO
// It wants to appoint ex-New Look boss Alistair McGeorge and former Boohoo CFO Neil Catto at the beauty business
Boohoo is staging a coup at Revolution Beauty, where it is the largest shareholder, as it looks to oust its leadership team.
The etailer will vote against the reappointment of Revolution’s CEO Bob Holt, chair Derek Zissman and CFO Elizabeth Lake at its AGM next week.
Boohoo, which owns 26.6% of the beauty brand, has also requisitioned a general meeting of the firm as it seeks to appoint ex-New Look boss Alistair McGeorge and former Boohoo CFO Neil Catto to helm the beauty business.
It has earmarked McGeorge, who is currently chair of both East Imperial and The Original Factory Shop, to serve as interim executive chairman whilst Catto will act as CFO. It plans to then “undertake a rigorous process to appoint additional independent directors”.
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It therefore urges the existing board to halt appointing Rachel Maguire and Matthew Eatough as directors.
Boohoo said: “As Revolution Beauty’s biggest shareholder, Boohoo is grateful to Bob, Derek and Elizabeth for stabilising the business.
“However, as Revolution Beauty transitions to its next phase, where the focus must switch to growth, Boohoo believes a senior leadership team with the right retail, ecommerce and consumer brands experience is required to deliver shareholder value.”
The online retailer made a “strategic investment” in the troubled beauty brand last summer and more than doubled its stake last November, making it Revolution’s largest single shareholder.
At the time it said it intended to be a “supportive stakeholder and long-term partner”.
Revolution has had a torrid time of late. Both its co-founders have stepped down over the past year and the listed business was forced to suspend its shares and severley delay its 2022 results due to accounting irregularities.
An auditing probe revealed the business had inflated sales by £9m to meet annual targets and had handed out undisclosed personal loans.
Holt was drafted in, first as interim COO and then CEO, late last year in the wake of the accounting scandal to steady the ship.
The probe found that Revolution had overstated profit by around £23m in its 2022 financial year, and therefore the business made a loss of around £800,000, instead of the £22m profit it had forecast.
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