Revolution Beauty can’t seem to catch a break. In a brief stock exchange filing, the under-pressure beauty specialist said that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has notified the firm that it has begun a probe.
It’s launched an investigation into “potential breaches of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) in relation to certain matters in the period from July 2021 to September 2022”.
While saying that it’s “cooperating fully with the FCA”, the company didn’t specify the issues being proved. It added that “further announcements will be made as appropriate”.
The investigation comes after the company’s shares were only recently readmitted to London Stock Exchange trading following nine months in which they were suspended. That suspension had come on the back of the company’s auditor refusing to sign off its accounts for the year to February 2022.
The accounts were eventually filed and the suspension lifted in late June, but not before turmoil in the top team saw Revolution’s founding team stepping down from running the business and a new team being brought in.
Revolution subsequently said that it was taking action against its founder after unacceptable practices were uncovered.
The company has also navigated a spat with major shareholder, Boohoo Group that saw yet another — Boohoo-approved — new management team being installed.
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that an investor who previously owned stakes in THG, Boohoo, ASOS and In The Style now has a holding of just over 3% in Revolution Beauty.
Liverpool-based William Currie Investments has been active in snapping up fashion and beauty investments in the past, and also bought a 3.5% stake in fast-growing brand Sosandar earlier this year. It also owns a stake in Gilda & Pearl.
The investment firm is led by Bill Currie who was previously a retail analyst and finance executive. The business he founded also boasts former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy as a partner and a top team that includes, Bob Willet, previously of M&S, BestBuy, Kingfisher and Littlewoods.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.