It’s just a few weeks since we heard that Revolution Beauty had received a takeover approach and was putting itself up for sale, so it comes as no surprise that ever-acquisitive Frasers Group has expressed an interest in a potential takeover.
Neither company has confirmed that fact but it was reported by Sky News at the weekend, which also said that any such move could “stoke animosity” between Frasers and Boohoo/Debenhams Group, which is a major shareholder of Revolution Beauty.
The report said that Frasers has approached Revolution Beauty about a potential offer for the company and is considering whether to make a bid but is not guaranteed to do so.
That comes after Revolution said in late May that it had received a takeover approach, which is not believed to have come from Frasers, and formally invited other potential bidders to make themselves known to its advisers.
It also comes after Revolution made Iain McDonald its chairman. He’s an experienced director although he does have close links with Boohoo/Debenhams as he’s a director of that company.
The connections between the various parties are interesting given that Boohoo/Debenhams, as mentioned, has a sizeable stake in Revolution Beauty, although it’s still a minority holding. Frasers in its turn has a large minority stake in Boohoo/Debenhams and used this to vote against that company changing its legal name from Boohoo Group to Debenhams Group earlier this year. Its vote was enough to block the change so the company’s shares still trade under the name Boohoo Group, although its ticker symbol changed from BOO to DEBS and in non-financial communications it refers to itself as Debenhams Group.
As well as having an impact on its official name, the animosity between the two groups resurfaces regularly and it will be interesting to see a potential battle between them should Boohoo/Debenhams also tries to take over Revolution (it has made no public move so far).
Frasers and Boohoo have faced off against each in takeover battles before with Boohoo a few years ago winning the Debenhams prize that Frasers majority owner Mike Ashley had long coveted. This time around the result could be different as Frasers has much more financial flexibility than under-pressure Boohoo does. That said, Frasers isn’t known for being lavish with its bid prices and could be beaten by a bidder with equally deep pockets and a willingness to dip further into them.
The process to sell Revolution Beauty is highly visible given that the company is stock exchange-listed so we should get regular updates on how the process is proceeding.
That listing underlines the problems the company has been faced with and its share price has plummeted and its market capitalisation as of close of business on Friday was only a little over £23 million. Shares in the company were trading just over 7p each, far below their debut price almost four years ago of £1.70 each.
The fall in the share price is hardly surprising given the problems the company has faced, including probes linked to its accounting and a tough market.
A year ago it was able to report a return to profitability, but recent periods have seen it reporting sales falls and only in May it said that sales dropped by more than it had expected.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
