The founder and chief executive of online retailer Revolution Beauty has stepped down permanently after the group revealed an investigation of its accounts two months ago and slashed forecasts.
Adam Minto has resigned with immediate effect, having last month stepped away from “day-to-day management” during the investigation, the board of the cosmetics and skincare maker said on Wednesday.
His departure was “a result of the events since IPO and the transition from a private company to a public company,” the board said. Minto could not be reached for comment.
Revolution was one of the largest initial public offerings on London’s junior market in 2021. But its first year as a listed company has been catastrophic. Its shares shed 87 per cent of their value before they were suspended in September after it failed to file audited accounts on time.
The company subsequently revealed that auditors BDO had refused to sign off its accounts because of “serious concerns”. These included issues with its “ability to provide sufficient and accurate audit evidence” and “the validity of certain commercial arrangements entered into by the company”.
Revolution appointed Macfarlanes and Forensic Risk Alliance to carry out an independent investigation, which is still ongoing. It said on Wednesday that “no conclusions have been drawn”.
Executive chair Tom Allsworth, who co-founded the group, also stepped aside temporarily from his duties last month. City veteran Bob Holt, who joined as interim chief operating officer in October, is running the company day to day.
Minto and Allsworth each sold about £15.6mn of shares at the IPO in 2021.
Like several other companies that listed in 2021, Revolution — which was valued at almost £500mn at IPO — benefited from a rise in online shopping during the pandemic but then struggled to sustain this growth.
Made.com, the online furniture retailer valued at almost £775mn at its London IPO last year, went into administration on Wednesday.
Revolution was launched in 2014 and sells beauty products directly online as well as through retailers such as Boots and Superdrug in the UK and Ulta Beauty in the US.
Minto previously said he spent three decades designing and developing make-up, fragrances and skincare for some of the world’s biggest beauty brands before founding Revolution.
In March this year he told an interviewer at TheIndustry.beauty that Revolution was “ideally placed to capitalise on changing consumer trends . . . and we are confident in our long-term sustainable growth prospects”.
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