Boohoo has demanded that Revolution Beauty explains why it handed shares worth around £2m to a group of senior executives.
The fashion giant, which holds a 26.6% stake in the company, has reacted strongly to the news that the shares were awarded to chief executive Bob Holt, chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake and 16 other members of the management team for free.
Boohoo has called for the business to publish the terms of the move together with any award letters issued to the relevant individuals on its website without delay.
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It has also demanded that Revolution Beauty confirms publicly that the proposed terms of grant of the free share awards were not amended following the announcement by Boohoo on June 19 of its intention to vote against the appointments of the CEO and CFO at the company's annual general meeting.
Boohoo and Revolution Beauty have been locked in a public battle in recent weeks after the fashion giant called for its CEO, CFO and chairman, along with two other directors, to be voted off the board.
At the Revolution Beauty AGM earlier this week, Boohoo succeeded in voting them off but the board members were reappointed after the meeting by the sole remaining director.
Boohoo is also seeking to appoint its own directors to Revolution Beauty's board.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Boohoo said: "Despite the free share awards having a dilutive impact of 3.4% on existing Revolution Beauty shareholders, they were not consulted on the free share awards, did not approve its terms, nor approve the appointment of its two main beneficiaries as directors.
"Those main beneficiaries, Bob Holt and Elizabeth Lake, have only served very short tenures of 8 and 13 months respectively and, based on the closing price of Revolution Beauty yesterday, received approximately £2.1m of free share awards, notwithstanding shareholders voting to remove them from office by an overwhelming majority.
"The only disclosure Revolution Beauty has made around the terms of the free share awards prior to today's announcement is five sentences hidden in its annual report for the period ended 28 February 2022 published on 26 May 2023.
"They were not referred to in any public announcement prior to yesterday morning.
"This all demonstrates a lack of transparency and actions which are self-serving and not in the best interests of shareholders."
