Ahead of its planned official results release, Revolution Beauty has updated on trading for the six months to the end of August and said its sales plummeted during the period.

But the 20% decline in the first half of its 2025 financial year to £72 million was part of a “planned simplification of the product portfolio and the associated discontinuation of unproductive SKUs”. The drop also reflected significant stock clearance activity in the first half of FY24.

By contrast, net sales from the company’s core range of SKUs grew 6% in H1, with growth accelerating to 16% in the second quarter versus the prior year.

There was an impact on profits and excluding stock provisions, underlying adjusted EBITDA was £3.1 million in H1, down from £3.5 million a year ago.

But underlying sales channel margins improved “as efficiencies and cost savings were realised from running a simplified brand portfolio”. 

The company said its cost savings programmes remain on track, with operating costs, excluding marketing costs, down 31% and administrative costs down 25%. Marketing increased 8% against the prior year, “with investments in brand marketing to underpin future growth of core products”.

Revolution also said that due to it clearing slow-moving discontinued inventory from previous years to generate cash, there’s a one-off, non-cash stock provision of £11.3 million for H1 to reflect the Net Realisable Value of the remaining old inventory. This will be excluded from underlying Adjusted EBITDA. We’re told it “will allow management to realise value and generate cash for future operations”.

At the end of the period, the company had a cash balance of £6.8 million and a fully drawn Revolving Credit Facility of £32 million.

It also updated its full-year guidance and said sales for FY25 are now expected to decline year on year at a slightly slower rate than in H1, with a return to growth in Q4 as a number of its new strategic growth initiatives take effect. This growth is expected to accelerate through FY26, which starts next March.

Underlying Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be at least in line with FY24 as previously guided, prior to the one-off stock provision.

Despite the negative umbers in the report, the company said it has “continued to deliver on its Reigniting the Revolution strategy during the first half. This includes encouraging progress with existing and new retailers, through both digital and physical channels”.

It has agreed a new relationship with DM Germany, that country’s number one mass beauty retailer, where Revolution Beauty will launch in more than 850 stores in January. It’s also expanding into 250 new Boots stores in the UK this month. 

And in the US, Walmart will carry a full assortment of its  products in more than 1,800 stores from January. Meanwhile, its new Amazon US shop, launched during H1, “is growing ahead of plan”.

CEO Lauren Brindley said: “In the last six months, we have made great progress in our Reigniting the Revolution strategy. We have reduced our SKU portfolio significantly, enabling improved underlying gross margin performance, on a core set of SKUs that are growing globally. This year is a transformational year for the company, as we focus on simplifying the business, improving our operational efficiency and positioning ourselves for profitable and sustained success.

“We expect a return to growth in Q4, as we begin landing our new growth initiatives, including a reinvigorated pipeline of make-up innovation, the launch of our new Skincare range and the global expansion of our budget brand, Relove. I remain highly confident that our Reigniting the Revolution strategy will deliver attractive, long-term, profitable growth.”

Full results for the half-year period will be released next month.