The slinging continues in the big pie fight between Boohoo and Revolution Beauty and this feels like a situation where both sides have a point.
Revolution Beauty thinks Boohoo is trying to take de facto control of the business without having to make a bid, while Boohoo has some legitimate gripes about governance, even if this is an area where it does not exactly have an unblemished record itself.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould said: “Revolution Beauty’s defence of the farcical scenes at its AGM, where Boohoo successfully ousted senior management only for them to be immediately reappointed, is that it would otherwise have prevented the lifting of a suspension of its shares trading on AIM and this seems fairly logical.
“Less convincing is the company’s case for awarding those directors generous share options. Keeping a company solvent and ensuring its shares can be traded, the stated reason for these awards, seem like a bare minimum and not something which should be met with a handsome reward. It’s also not a great look that the share options were not put to an investor vote as would normally be the case.
“With the relationship looking pretty much broken at this point, Boohoo may have to decide if it likes the brand and business enough – and cosmetics is a category which has historically been resilient in an economic downturn – to make a bid or to cut its losses and sell its holding now trading has resumed on AIM.”
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