SMALL CAP MOVERS: Boardroom drama at Revolution Beauty

Forget Thames Water, the real boardroom drama this week was in small-cap cosmetics Revolution Beauty.

Online retailer and 26.6 percent shareholder of Revolution Boohoo has attempted to take control of the AIM-listed company through a hostile takeover and ousting Revolution’s board.

This came to a head at Wednesday’s annual general meeting, when a shareholder showdown saw chief executive Bob Holt, chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake and chairman Derek Zissman vote out.

Non-executive director Jeremy Schwartz briefly became the sole board member. His first responsibility under the company’s bylaws was to hire three more members.

After some consideration, he selected Bob Holt as CEO, Elizabeth Lake as Chief Financial Officer, and Derek Zissman as chairman. Imagine that.

Revolution and Boohoo have been exchanging vicious words all week, accusing each other of being selfish.

As we all know, investors hate instability, but Revolution’s share price shot up 53 percent on Wednesday, although that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Shares were even suspended since September 2022 for failure to publish company accounts amid Minto’s controversial departure.

Coming Friday, as the tumultuous week draws to a close, Revolution shares remained up 26 percent since Wednesday’s takeover.

The same cannot be said for the broader Aim All-Share Index, which ended the week about 2 percent lower at 751.84, significantly underperforming the FTSE 100 index’s 0.8 percent gain.

The gap would likely have been wider if the blue-chip utilities segment hadn’t taken a beating Severn Trent, United utilities And BT group one of the worst large-cap performers. It appears that Thames Water causes pollution in more ways than one.

That equities underperformed this week is hardly a surprise, which with last week’s painful rate hike of half a percentage point, although with income stocks out of favor in the premium segment, some could continue to move to the bottom of the market. assumed.

Speaking of that, Caspian sunrisethe AIM-listed Kazakhstan oil company took a 30 percent thrashing on Friday after scrapping its dividend payment for the foreseeable future.

The group has become the unintended victim of the conflict in Ukraine, in that it incurred additional costs and, crucially, suffered a loss of revenue of $18 million. Shares fell from 4.3p to 2.82p.

African phosphate producer KropzShares of the company also fell more than 40 percent after it was revealed that trading of AIM shares will be suspended following the failure to publish its annual reports.

The same fate befalls Trackwise designswith shares of the manufacturer of the printed circuit board technology crashing. 70 percent failed to provide financial statements for the past fiscal year.

Trackwise said production delays and “intense demands on the entire management team have led to delays in the financial audit process.” Shares are now suspended.

Outside of heavy industries, video game group tinyBuild plunged 70 percent after the company said its first-half performance beat expectations.

tinyBuild blamed the underperformance of two acquisitions: US publisher Versus Evil and Brazil-based developer Red Cerberus.

On the optimistic side was the note printer de la rue, which surged more than 50 percent on indications of a recovery in currency demand and strong performance in the authentication business, particularly in the second half of the year.

This marks a reversal from April when the Basingstoke-based group issued a profit warning.

Renalytix was a top player in the pharma segment, finishing the week up 44 percent thanks to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) marketing authorization approval for its KidneyIntelX.dkd prognostic test.

Prospex energy was a top riser in the energy sector, gaining 10 percent after bullish news emerged from its Italy-based gas field.

But the real energy that stood out was Invinity energy systemswhich added nearly 40 percent to what can only be considered justification of the full-year trading statement released Wednesday.

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