Global Brands wants to re-list despite heavy losses

THE Manchester-based licensing firm whose shares were suspended from the PLUS market after ‘suspicious’ trading activity has stated its desire to return to the market.

Global Brands Licensing, which is run by entrepreneur Howard Moher, raised £1m in March 2010 to buy two licensing businesses but it had its shares suspended a month later when an investigation was launched into ramping of its shares.

A trader who was unconnected to the company, was eventually fined £1m by the FSA last year for the offence, but its shares were taken off the market in December 2010 and have not been re-listed, even though it was not implicated in the investigation and no suggestion of impropriety was made against it.

In a statement accompanying its recently-filed accounts, Mr Moher, who is the company’s chairman, said the directors were “hopeful that they may re-float the shares in future periods”.

The company has also had to contend with the collapse of one of the two businesses it bought with the AIM proceeds, Quantum Licensing LLC.

It held licenses under the Marilyn Monroe brand name, but a relationship with the licensor “deteriorated to such a degree that the license was cancelled and a court case was entered into claiming breach of contract by both parties”.

Global Brands lost an arbitration ruling, and the ensuing costs and liabilities associated with the case meant that the business was placed into voluntary bankruptcy last month.

However, Global Brands said that the licenses owned by its other business, Ezri Investments, “continue to perform as expected”.

The decline of the Quantum business and the issues surrounding its PLUS listing mean that it has “incurred significant losses” during the 18 months to June 30, 2011, and it declared a pre-tax loss of £4.5m while its remaining business brought in revenues of just £59,727.

Despite this, Mr Moher said the directors were “confident that future funding will be obtained which will allow the group to resume normal trade within 12-18 months”.

“In the short term, the director is confident that the group will obtain sufficient funding to meet the working capital requirements for the foreseeable future,” it said.

“In the long term the director intends to use his significant experience in the brand licensing sector along with additional funding to resume the acquisition strategy and develop a portfolio of brands to enable the group to become a
significant licensor of branded goods in the fashion designer and personality categories.”