The war of words between Revolution Beauty Group PLC (AIM:REVB) and Boohoo Group PLC (AIM:BOO) continued after a dramatic annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday which saw three senior board members removed, and subsequently, reappointed.
Boohoo, which holds a 26.6% stake in Revolution Beauty opposed the reelection of Revolution chief executive Bob Holt, chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake and chair Derek Zissman, and all three were initially ousted from the board after a shareholder vote.
It meant that non-executive director Jeremy Schwartz, was briefly the beauty products seller's sole board member.
With three board members required to meet the group’s Articles of Association, Schwartz appointed two non-executive directors, and those three then re-appointed the ‘ousted three’ executives.
Revolution Beauty described the approach taken by boohoo as “nothing short of value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving.”
“Boohoo is seeking to stage a board and management control coup without making a general offer, or paying a single penny,” it continued.
For its part, boohoo said it had “serious concerns” regarding the conduct of the board of Revolution Beauty at, and immediately following, the AGM, which it said were “self-serving and not in the best interests of shareholders.”
It added that Schwartz’s actions “contravened corporate governance best practice and disregarded the expressed opinion of the company's shareholders.”
“This will likely result in significant remuneration and share awards for members of a self-elected board,” boohoo said.
Boohoo called on the company to convene a general meeting to remove Holt, Lake and Zissman and appoint Alistair McGeorge and Neil Catto as directors.
McGeorge, a boohoo non-executive director, is the current non-executive chair of tonic waters and mixers producer East Imperial PLC (LSE:EISB).
Catto is currently a non-executive director at tinyBuild, and was previously chief financial officer of boohoo between 2011 and 2022.
Amongst all the drama, shares in Revolution Beauty are set to resume trading today after a long suspension.