(Reuters) -Revolution Beauty is bringing back co-founder Tom Allsworth as CEO, scrapping plans to sell itself and launching a fresh equity raise as part of a strategy reset amid slumping sales, the struggling cosmetics group said on Friday.
The London-listed makeup and haircare company said it plans to raise about 15 million pounds ($20.09 million) in fresh equity to repay debt and restructure the business.
The group had kicked off a sale process in May, and began a review of its funding structure after its annual sales slumped by more than a quarter.
However, in recent months, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group dropped out of its takeover pursuit, and sources told Reuters that Revolution Beauty rejected a bid from specialist private equity firm True.
On Friday, the group disclosed that it had swung to an adjusted pre-tax loss of 5.5 million pounds for the year ended February 28, compared with a profit of 4.3 million pounds last year.
In addition to the equity boost, Revolution Beauty said it is in talks with its top shareholder, Debenhams, to supply branded cosmetics under an exclusive licensing agreement.
($1 = 0.7467 pounds)
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
