Revolution Beauty Group PLC (AIM:REVB) shares looked uglier to investors on Thursday morning, tanking 22% after Mike Ashley's Frasers Group PLC (LSE:FRAS) pulled out of the running as a potential suitor.
The owner of the House of Frasers and Sports Direct chains said it was no longer planning to make an offer for the cosmetics outfit after a short period of due diligence.
AIM-listed Revolution said it "continues to have constructive engagement with a number of other interested parties".
But it noted that these talks could end "at any time" and there is no certainty that any offer will be made.
It also pointed out that "positive engagement" was continuing in discussions with shareholders about refinancing, including a potential equity raise.
Shares in REVB fell 22% to 6p on Thursday, having fallen from around 25p a year ago to all-time lows below 4p a month ago after a profit warning was quickly followed by a revelation it was in talks with banks about its finances.
The company's need to raise new money and the formal sale process, has raised two possible scenarios, analysts at AJ Bell speculated: "One is that Frasers has found some skeletons in the closest and is betting on Revolution Beauty going bust, which would mean it could potentially buy the business at a much cheaper price out of administration.
"The other is that Revolution Beauty needs a significant amount of money to dig it out of a hole and Frasers simply isn’t prepared to make that investment.
"This is all pure speculation, but Frasers’ withdrawal has clearly spooked investors in Revolution Beauty," they added.
Another potential buyers is Boohoo Group PLC (AIM:BOO), which owns a 29% stake but is trying to fix its own problems.