Revolution Beauty warns on sales, shares tumble
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Thursday 23 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - Shares in Revolution Beauty plunged on Thursday, after the troubled cosmetics and skincare specialist warned of a sharp slide in full-year sales.
The brand, which sells online and through in-store concessions, said sales in the year to February-end were likely to be down 25%.
The firm blamed "some softness" in digital channels in December, de-stocking by US retailers and delayed retailer launches.
As at 1000 GMT, the AIM-listed stock had lost 25% at 10.61p. Fast fashion retailer Boohoo Group, which owns 27% of the business, was trading 2% lower at 292.6p.
Revolution's management is currently attempting to turn the business around, including cutting costs and discontinuing thousands of products - around 75% of the original portfolio. It is expected a £10.2m charge to write-off old stock.
Revolution said the restructuring would create a "scalable and profitable foundation for future growth".
Its forecast for annual underlying earnings of "high single-digit millions" was left unchanged, due to cost-cutting efforts.
It also struck a more optimistic note looking forward, noting: "Revolution Beauty is confident in a return to overall growth in the 2026 full year, as new strategic growth initiatives, such as the launch of the Skin brand, the relaunch of our value brand Relove, and as the core SKU (stock keeping unit) growth accelerates globally.
"This will be underpinned by significant margin improvements in the medium term."
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, called the update "more beast than beauty".
He continued: "For a business that was worth nearly £500m when it joined the stock market four years ago, Revolution's life as a listed company has been nothing short of ugly.
"While Boohoo has been building a stake, so too has activist investor Pentwater Capital Management, which owns 8.91%. Quite what it intends to do remains to be seen.
"It's getting to the point where Revolution's management might need to accept the company is better off as part of a larger entity rather than trying to sweat it out alone."
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