Marchpole Holdings plc, the fashion brand management group, has published its Interim Management Statement as required by the revised Listing Authority disclosure rules. The statement relates to the first 18 weeks of the second half of the 2007 financial year, representing the period 1 October 2007 to 31 January 2008.
Our relationship with the House of Ungaro continues to develop and we have made further progress in establishing the Emanuel Ungaro and Ungaro Homme diffusion labels as a worldwide menswear brand. We have restructured Moda America, our subsidiary in the USA, which will result in significant cost savings and a reduction in the losses and stabilised current trading.
The Jean Charles de Castelbajac (JCC) brand has made further progress during the period, and in particular, the royalty income is increasing as a result of the new licensing agreements that have been initiated during the last twelve months.
In addition, we have signed the leasehold on the first UK flagship store for the brand, which will be at 50-51 Conduit Street in the fashion heart of London. We anticipate that this store will be opened by the end of spring 2008.
With regard to the Ozwald Boateng range, we have settled our dispute with Bespoke Couture and under the terms of the settlement we have extended our manufacturing and distribution license with Ozwald Boateng.
As a result of the settlement, we shall not incur any royalty payments to Bespoke Couture over the next three years, which will result in savings of over £1 million. Sales and orders for the brand continue to grow.
Greenmark Ltd, our footwear subsidiary, trades profitably and in line with expectations. Homebody Ltd continued its development and the brand is developing its website sales and in overseas markets.
Despite the progress we have made in all areas of our business, the difficult trading conditions in the UK and the USA have had an adverse impact on our sales and profit performance during this period. Therefore, the outturn for the year to 31 March 2008 will result in a loss.
The measures taken during the current period will put the Company in a good position to increase its customer base and to take advantage of future profitable trading opportunities. We continue to focus on seeking licensing agreements for the further expansion of our business.
