Revolution Beauty nears settlement with co-founders

Revolution Beauty founder Adam Minto is in advanced talks to repay almost £3 million to settle allegations that he breached his fiduciary duties to the company, reports suggest.

Revolution Beauty hopes the settlement will put an end to the tumultuous two years since its initial public offering, which included shareholder conflicts and a stock exchange suspension.

Governance and operational crises have left the company valued at just a fraction of its listing price of almost £500 million.

Sky News reports that Minto could hand over the money as soon as this week, while co-founder Tom Allsworth is also in talks with Revolution Beauty to change the timetable for deferred payments due to him for his stake in the group’s Medichem business.

In response to the report, Revolution Beauty said on Monday it “remains in negotiations” with Minto and Allsworth.

However, the company emphasized that there is ‘no guarantee that agreements will be made’.

In a statement, the group said: ‘As previously announced on June 20, 2023, the group has announced possible legal proceedings against Mr. Minto regarding the events leading to a delay in the audit of the FY22 results and the suspension of trading in the company’s shares. on target.

‘Separately, and as previously announced on August 31, 2023, the board is negotiating with Tom Allsworth, Medichem’s previous owner, to reach a revised agreement on the terms of the acquisition.’

In January, CEO Bob Holt said an investigation found “a number of serious problems” with operations under former management.

This included loans from Minto and Allsworth, founder of Medichem – which was acquired by Revolution Beauty in 2021 – to an employee and several distributors.

None of these loans, worth a total of around £1 million, had been disclosed to the board.

Earlier this month, the London-listed group’s turnover rose 20 per cent to £90.4 million in the six months to the end of August, with 14 per cent UK sales growth driven by sales from Boots and Superdrug stores.

The company ended the period with a pre-tax profit of £400,000, compared to a loss of £13.7 million in the first half.

Revolution Beauty Group shares fell 1.16 percent to 29.90p in Monday afternoon trading.