Revolution Beauty back in the black despite weak online sales

Cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty has clawed its way out of the red as high sales in the rest of the world help offset its poor performance in the US.

The AIM-listed makeup giant, which counts Boohoo as an investor, grew its pre-tax profit to £11.4m in the year ended February 29, 2024, up from a pre-tax loss of almost £34m in the 12 months prior.

The company’s revenue was also up, hitting just over £191m during the year compared to £188m in the year before.

Revolution Beauty said this was despite disappointing online sales and a weaker performance in the US.

In February the group unveiled a new strategy to focus on its core product categories.

The company said that this strategy was “already showing good progress in improving profitability and working capital efficiency” and that it would “enable greater investment in new product development and marketing to return the business to growth”.

Lauren Brindley, Revolution Beauty CEO, said: “FY24 was a year of great strategic and financial progress following two challenging years.

“I am extremely proud of what team Revolution Beauty has achieved. Our new reigniting the revolution strategy is already delivering improvements across the business, strengthening our core and providing a much firmer platform from which to grow.”

Brindley added: “As we progress through the new financial year, I am excited about the potential of our reinvigorated pipeline of innovation and the number of opportunities to expand our retail distribution globally. 

“As the strategy continues to take effect, we expect to see a return to growth in the second half of the year. That will put us firmly on the right trajectory to achieving our ambition of being a top 5 player in the mass beauty market.”

Brindley joined Revolution Beauty as CEO just over a year ago after its former boss Adam Minto resigned amid accusations he breached his fiduciary duty.

During his time at the company accounting issues delayed Revolution’s 2022 results and its shares were suspended.

In February he agreed to pay the company nearly £3m handing £483,333 to Revolution every March over six years.

Revolution Beauty ran into trouble when auditors at accountancy firm BDO refused to sign off on its financial accounts for the year to February 2022, leading shares in the firm to be suspended on the London Stock Exchange for nine months.

There was a series of problems, including the sale of £9m worth of goods to three distributors just before the end of the financial year. An independent investigation found that the proceeds should not have counted towards the firm’s revenue.