Ex-boss of Revolution Beauty agrees to pay firm £2.9m to end auditing dispute
The company said it had reached a settlement agreement with Adam Minto after an ongoing dispute with the former chief executive.
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Your support makes all the difference.The co-founder and ex-boss of cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty has agreed to pay nearly £3 million to draw a line under issues with its accounts, which threw the business into crisis in 2022.
The company said it had reached a settlement agreement with Adam Minto after an ongoing dispute with the former chief executive.
The make-up firm ran into trouble when its auditors 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 while an investigation was carried out.
Mr Minto quit the business in November amid the saga.
We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Adam
It later emerged that there were a series of problems with its accounts, including the sale of nearly £10 million worth of stock just before the end of the financial year, which a probe found should not have counted towards its reported revenue.
The investigation also uncovered claims that Mr Minto, and former chairman and fellow founder Tom Allsworth, had made personal loans to an employee and to distributors which were not disclosed to the board at the time.
Revolution had said it was considering taking legal action against Mr Minto, alleging he breached his duties to the firm.
But the settlement announced on Thursday is set to draw a line under the dispute, with the company stressing there was “no admission or acceptance of liability by either party” as part of the agreement.
Mr Minto will pay a sum of £2.9 million in six yearly instalments. If he does not pay an instalment on time, then he will be charged interest of 8% per year.
Non-executive chairman, Alistair McGeorge, said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Adam,” adding that the firm can “now focus on the future”.
Shares in Revolution Beauty, which resumed trading in June, were up about 3% on Monday morning.