Makeup firm Revolution Beauty plans share sale
Revolution Beauty, the social media friendly makeup brand, has announced it is planning to sell shares in the company on the London Stock Exchange.
The business, founded eight years ago by beauty industry veterans Adam Minto and Tom Allsworth, will list on the UK’s junior stock exchange market, AIM.
The firm is known for its brands such as Makeup Revolution and collaborations with TV series such as Friends.
It is also known for its social media presence and work with influencers.
The company says it is able to “identify early trends in the market through its influencer, consumer and retailer channels” which allow it to bring products to market in 16 weeks.
This compares to beauty industry norms which could see a product, from inception to development. take as long as two years to launch.
Revolution Beauty sells its products through Superdrug and Boots in the UK as well as fashion websites ASOS, Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing among others.
However, it has faced controversy over claims of plagiarism. Most recently, beauty YouTuber Manuel Gutierrez – better known as Manny MUA – accused Revolution Beauty of copying the packaging of a highlighter made by his own company, Lunar Beauty.
Revolution Beauty pulled the product but said it was not aware of Lunar Beauty’s design and was led to believe by companies that manufacture packaging “that it was a freely available design”.
Revolution Beauty did not disclose how much it would sell its shares for when it lists in London and how much money its co-founders, Mr Minto and Mr Allsworth, will make when the flotation goes ahead in July.
However, it appears shareholders in the business plan on selling some stock.
Revolution Beauty said the float would “allow incumbent shareholders to realise a proportion of value held whilst retaining significant shareholdings to benefit from future upside”.
The company has secured a commitment by the investor, Jupiter Asset Management, to buy £90m worth of shares in the float.
It also said it would use proceeds for selling shares to “execute its growth plans [and] incentivise the management team and wider employee base” which totals 220 people.
Mr Minto, Revolution Beauty’s chief executive, said that when he started the business eight years ago: “I wanted to make high quality cosmetics and skincare affordable for everyone and now we’re on track to achieve these goals around the world.”
Last March, Revolution Beauty appointed the former chief executive of Sports Direct, Dave Forsey, as managing director.