Forget Thames Water, the real boardroom drama this week was at the cosmetics small-cap Revolution Beauty. 

Online retailer and 26.6 per cent Revolution shareholder Boohoo has tried to wrest control of the AIM-listed company through a hostile takeover and ousting of Revolution’s board.

This came to a head at Wednesday’s annual general meeting, when a shareholder showdown saw chief executive Bob Holt, chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake, and chair Derek Zissman voted out.

Non-executive director Jeremy Schwartz briefly became the sole board member. His first responsibility under the company’s articles of association was to hire three more members.

After brief contemplation, he selected Bob Holt as chief executive, Elizabeth Lake as chief financial officer, and Derek Zissman as chair. Fancy that.

Revolution and Boohoo have exchanged vitriolic words all week, accusing each other of being self-serving.

As we all know, investors hate instability, yet Revolution’s share price rocketed 53 per cent higher on Wednesday, though that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Shares were actually suspended since September 2022 for failing to publish company accounts amid Minto’s contentious departure.

Come Friday, as the tumultuous week comes to a close, Revolution shares remained 26 per cent higher since Wednesday’s readmission.

The same can’t be said for the broader Aim All-Share Index, which ended the week around 2 per cent lower at 751.84, underperforming considerably against the FTSE 100 index’s 0.8 per cent add.

The gap would likely have been wider if the blue-chip utility segment didn’t cop a beating, with Severn Trent, United Utilities and BT Group among the worst large-cap performers. It appears that Thames Water is causing contamination in more ways than one.

That stocks underperformed this week is hardly a surprise, what with last week’s bruising half-a-percentage point interest rate hike, though with income stocks out of favour on the premium segment, some pass through to the lower end of the market could have been assumed.

Speaking of which, Caspian Sunrise, the AIM-quoted Kazakhstan-focused oiler, took a 30 per cent beating on Friday after scrapping its dividend payment for the foreseeable future.

The group has found itself the unintended victim of the Ukraine conflict insomuch as it has layered in additional costs and, crucially, copped an $18million loss of revenue. Shares fell from 4.3p to 2.82p.

African phosphate producer Kropz‘s shares also plunged over 40 per cent after revealing that its shares will be suspended from trading on AIM after failing to publish its annual reports.

The same fate beset Trackwise Designs, with shares in the printed circuit technology manufacturer crashing 70 per cent failing to provide financial statements for the last financial year.

Trackwise said manufacturing delays and ‘intense demands upon the entire management team’ have caused delays in the financial auditing process’. Shares have now been suspended.

Outside of the heavy industries, video game group tinyBuild plummeted 70 per cent after the firm said its first-half performance had undershot expectations.

tinyBuild pinned the blame on the underperformance of two acquisitions- US publisher Versus Evil and Brazil-based developer Red Cerberus.

On the bullish side was banknote printer De La Rue, which shot up over 50 per cent following indications of a recovery in currency demand and a robust performance in its authentication business, particularly in the latter half of the year.

This marks a turnaround from April, when the Basingstoke-based group dished out a profit warning.

Renalytix was a top mover In the pharmaceuticals segment, closing the week 44 per cent higher on the back of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting marketing authorisation for its KidneyIntelX.dkd prognostic test.

Prospex Energy was a top riser in the energy sector, gaining 10 per cent after bullish news emerged from its Italy-based gas field.

But the real energy stand out was Invinity Energy Systems, which added nearly 40 per cent in what can only be considered a vindication of its full-year trading statement published on Wednesday.

To read more small-cap news click here www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk

Investment firm M&G under fire for failing to protect thousands of savers who bought bonds issued by struggling Bollywood film group, Eros Media World

By Joanne Hart, Financial Mail on Sunday

Updated: 16:56 EDT, 24 June 2023

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Sam Neill’s acclaimed drama series The Twelve renewed for a second season following Logies recognition

By Ciara O’loughlin For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 21:48 EDT, 21 June 2023 | Updated: 21:48 EDT, 21 June 2023

Horror author Stephen King has apologized after jokingly tweeting that the recent House Speaker election was as agonizing as a vacation to Utica.  

The Misery writer, who is a frequent user on Twitter, with more than 7 million followers likened the industrial upstate New York city to the speakership debacle in which a vote to elect McCarthy to House Speaker took 15 attempts over multiple days.

‘The Speakership is like that old joke: First prize is a week in Utica. Second prize is TWO weeks in Utica,’ he joked.

But the residents of Utica did not take the jibe lying down, and King’s tongue-in-cheek comment was met with backlash from residents and lawmakers of 65,000 strong city who rose to defend its reputation. 

It came as McCarthy needed several days to win 20 Republicans who initially did not support his speakership.

He finally won the position following 15 rounds of voting.

His comments appeared to touch a nerve with those associated with the city. 

‘Utica is a great city!’ Utica councilman Delvin J. Moody tweeted. ‘I am a utica native and proud to be so. The speakership is a whole over cluster mess.’

‘Hey, man… Utica is a great city,’ New York Rep. Marcus Molinaro said.

‘Utica is far from ‘The Dead Zone’ these days Mr. King. Come and see how #OneidaCounty has grown,’ Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. tweeted.

Others got personal with King: ‘You are not Funny and your books are not that good,’ stated one.

‘So what if insult 330k in metro area!! So typical of the superior attitude you have about yourself?’ added another.

‘Hmmmmm…. Semi famous people who think there important and opinion matters….’ jabbed one Twitter user.

‘Remember when Stephen King was relevant? Yeah never,’ chimed another. 

King, author of The Shining, Carrie and other blockbusters, later apologized acknowledging that his comment was inappropriate. 

‘I sincerely apologize to all the people from Utica I offended. I guess I should have said Cleveland?or Salt Lake City?’ he wrote. 

‘Thanks for the apology Stephen King’, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul tweeted. ‘A reminder not to pick a fight with 20 million New Yorkers!’ 

He also acknowledged that Utica has been referenced in his work before and that his daughter had even served as a minister at Unitarian Universalist Church in the city. 

Last year, King testified at a trial to block a $2.2billion merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster calling the proposed plans post-merger ‘a little bit ridiculous.’

King told a court that if the two mammoth publishing houses merge and still fight against each other for books it will be like ‘a husband and wife bidding against each other for the same house.’ 

He is among a group of people standing against the $2.2billion merger at the antitrust trial, along with publishing executives and authors’ agents.

Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the United States, said it planned to buy rival Simon & Schuster in November 2020.

The publishing house is owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Simon & Schuster is owned by ViacomCBS, now Paramount Global. The Justice Department filed its lawsuit in a bid to block the merger in November 2021.

King is fighting against his own publisher Simon & Schuster, who has represented him for years – as many fear that the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses becoming four will do harm to the industry. 

He has published more than 60 novels and sold over 350 million copies worldwide. 

The paperback advance he received for Carrie in 1974 was $400,000 – which today is the equivalent of $2.4million. 

Britney Spears‘ conservatorship drama could be turned into a tell-all docuseries, according to a new report.

The singer, 41, was placed under the controversial court order in 2008 – which saw her father Jamie, 32, wield power over her finances and career decisions – before it was terminated after 13 years in November 2021.

And now it’s thought American Horror Story producer Ryan Murphy, 57, wants the pop star to tell her own story on the small screen, following the upcoming release of her bombshell memoir.

Her conservatorship has been explored by the likes of Netflix, Hulu and the BBC, although the Toxic hitmaker hasn’t been involved with any of the projects.

Having brought Monica Lewinsky in as co-producer of Impeachment: American Crime Story, which dramatised her 1998 scandal with Bill Clinton, Ryan is allegedly hoping to get Britney on board as he ‘hates being accused of exploiting victims’.

A source told The U.S. Sun: ‘Ryan is openly fascinated by the Britney saga and of course, he is one of the few filmmakers in Hollywood, maybe the only one, really, with a professional relationship with Britney.

‘He knows her, he knows her world and he knows why the story of her conservatorship resonated with so many people.

‘But Ryan hates being accused of exploiting victims and tragedies in his shows so this becomes an incredibly delicate matter, and not something he would even consider pushing forward without Britney’s full co-sign.’

The insider went on to claim he hasn’t reached out to the superstar yet and is ‘not going to push Britney into anything she isn’t comfortable with’.

Ryan previously worked with the former X Factor U.S judge on a Britney-themed episode of Glee in 2010, on which she appeared.

MailOnline has contacted Ryan and Britney’s representatives for comment. 

Last July, it was reported Britney had finally completed the long-awaited book that delves deep into her life, family and the years of her conservatorship.

The announcement that her memoir was finished was cause for celebration among fans. However, an immense paper shortage is causing a major delay in publishing the tome, TMZ reported.

Sources told the publication that there is no projected time for when the paper shortage will be fixed, which has caused an abrupt halt in rolling out a release date.

Britney and her team had originally wanted to have the memoir available in January 2023.

Sources confirmed to TMZ that Britney’s revealing memoir will be published under Simon & Schuster, one of the largest American publishers.

The Baby One More Time singer signed a book deal earlier that year in February and received a $15 million advance.

In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, the star expressed her excitement about having the chance to have her version of the story shared, according to USA Today.

‘Well I’m writing a book at the moment and it’s actually healing and therapeutic… it’s also hard bringing up past events in my life,’ the Toxic hitmaker wrote.

‘I’ve never been able to express openly!!! I can only imagine that I do sound childish but I was extremely young with those events took place,’ Britney concluded.

The Gimme More songstress began to put pen to paper after her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, published her own memoir, Things I Should Have Said.

Britney grew upset about the contents and claims included in the book. According to Page Six, the singer’s lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, wrote a cease-and-desist letter shortly after the memoir became available to the public.

‘Although Britney has not read and does not intend to read your book, she and millions of her fans were shocked to see how you have exploited her for monetary gain,’ he had issued in his statement.

At the end of the letter, the lawyer added, ‘She will not tolerate it, nor should she.’