Revolution Beauty has ended its formal sales process, announced job cuts and is appointing its former co-founders to helm the embattled business as it seeks out a brand “reset”.
Adam Minto and Tom Allsworth, who both resigned from the UK make-up brand in October 2022 amid an investigation into accounting issues, will return to “restore growth”.
Allsworth will take up the position of CEO, while Minto – who recently launched a new beauty venture with Gen Z-focused make-up brand Trouble Maker, –is returning to the business in a consultancy role.
Cost-saving measures focused on the business’ operating structure will also see a series of job cuts in order to free up an estimated £7.5m in annual staff costs.
The pair’s hiring follows Revolution Beauty Chairman Iain McDonald stating that the “business has lost its way” and needed a “return to the founder-led management team”.
“We are confident that with a return to the founder-led management team who originally scaled the brand, there is a clear path back to growth and long-term value creation,” said McDonald.
“This will be achieved with a re-balanced strategy which will return Revolution Beauty to its original formula for success – fast, trend-driven innovation combined with a product-led strategy.
“This will be underpinned by a leaner organisational structure, streamlined marketing spend and a strengthened balance sheet.”
Revolution Beauty ending its sales process follows the business putting itself up for sale in May, after receiving a formal offer to acquire the embattled make-up brand.
Its board concluded, however, that it had not received an offer since that time that would “satisfactorily meet the interests of all stakeholders”.
Instead, the brand said it is now undertaking a proposed equity fundraise to raise proceeds of approximately £15m to shore up the business.
“The funding from the equity raised will be used to reduce debt, provide working capital and ensure a stable base for the business to return to growth,” McDonald added.
The c-suite shuffle, job cuts and sale process termination announcements were made alongside Revolution Beauty reporting its unaudited full-year 2025 accounts.
Sales decreased 25.5% year-on-year to £142.6m, impacted by the business streamlining its product and brand portfolio.
Gross margin also sank to 38.2%, down 8% from 2024, and was affected by the planned clearance of non-core inventory.
The financial struggles have extended to Revolution Beauty’s first quarter of trading for the 2026 financial year.
Net sales in the first quarter of 2026 declined 29% compared with the previous year.
It also expects revenues for the second quarter of FY26 to be lower than the same period in 2025 by approximately 25%.
The brand said it is taking action to address the declines in revenues by resurrecting profitable stock-keeping units that have been discontinued.
It is also relaunching the Relove value brand with new retail distribution partners, and establishing a “profitable discount” outlet channel.
“This plan significantly reduces financial risk and improves the business' capital structure, restoring confidence in both near-term stability and long-term growth potential,” McDonald continued.
Revolution Beauty’s rocky history timeline
Revolution Beauty put itself up for sale in May 2025
Revolution Beauty has been plagued by shareholder revolts, legal battles and sinking sales for a number of years.
The brand’s troubles largely began in August 2022, when the cosmetics company failed to release its FY2022 results after auditors had flagged a number of accounting issues.
This led to the British skin care and make-up brand shares being suspended on 1 September and its stocks plummeting by 41%.
Allsworth and Minto would step down from their positions in October of that year, as the investigation by Big Four accountancy BDO progressed.
Bob Holt, who was Chair of health care services business Totally and Bristol-based engineering company Cosgrove & Drew at the time, was quickly brought on to replace Minto as Interim CEO.
The fast beauty firm’s troubles would only deepen after the results of the investigation were released in March 2023.
It emerged that Minto and Allsworth were behind the accounting errors, and had made personal loans of around £1m to distributors and a senior employee.
None of these arrangements was disclosed to the company's board at an appropriate time.
Revolution Beauty launched the legal action against Minto in 2023, claiming that he had breached his financial duties to the company.
However, it then reached a settlement agreement with Minto in 2024, with the former CEO agreeing to a settlement sum of £2.9m, which will be paid in six annual instalments of £483,333.
The brand’s board of directors stated at the time, having considered its options and legal advice received, that this was a “fair settlement for the company”.
Outside of the legal back and forth, Revolution Beauty continued under the leadership of Holt and CFO Elizabeth Lake.
Boohoo, the beauty brand's largest shareholder, would stage a coup in June 2023 to overthrow the new leadership team and as the board was reportedly not delivering shareholder value.
Revolution Beauty eventually ended its public spat with the fast fashion retailer in July 2023, with a settlement agreement that saw Holt and Chair Derek Zissman resign.
Lauren Brindley was later appointed Group CEO in September 2023 to oversee the beauty brand’s global operations and its strategic growth.
Revolution Beauty started to see a return in profit growth thanks to a recovery strategy, dubbed ‘Reigniting the Revolution’, with plans to hit £1bn in sales by 2030.
The beauty brand reported full-year profit before tax of £11.4m, up from the loss of £33.9m in 2023 when it reported difficulties with stock, revenue and the value of Revolution Labs.
Sales also increased by 2% to £191.3m, which was partly driven by a period of “significant” product clearance activity in the first half of the year.
But Brindley would then exit the fast beauty brand after a year-and-a-half in the role.
She stepped down on 31 May, moving to Ulta Beauty to serve as Chief Merchandising and Digital Officer.
Following this, Revolution Beauty put itself up for sale after receiving a formal offer from an unknown buyer, leading to the most recent chapter in the brand's tumultuous history.