MPH.L Regulatory News (MPH)

6 Sep 2007 07:00

Marchpole Holdings PLC06 September 2007 Marchpole Holdings plc ("Marchpole" or "the Company") Annual General Meeting Statement At Marchpole Holdings Annual General Meeting to be held this morning thenon-executive Chairman of Marchpole Holdings plc, Christopher Phillips, willgive the following statement and update on current trading. "At the time of the announcement on 28 June 2007 of our results for the yearended 31 March 2007 I was pleased to report continued significant improvement inthe business with increased turnover and profitability. The Group continues toevolve into a diversified international luxury brand management business with aglobally recognised portfolio of fashion brands. Our global reach is expandingand we now operate in the UK, Continental and Eastern Europe, Asia, the Americasand the Middle East. The current financial year has started in line with expectations with our Spring/Summer 2008 collections having been well received and forward order booksbuilding as anticipated. Sales of Emanuel Ungaro and Ungaro Homme in Europe,including the UK, are encouraging and in line with our expectations and demandfor the new Emanuel Ungaro first line, designed by Franck Boclet, has exceededour expectations. Our wholly owned brand Jean Charles de Castelbajac ("JCC")continues to enjoy both increased sales, and increased licensing income. On alike-for-like basis JCC sales have delivered an increase of 5%, and increasedlicensing income has derived from both new licences and royalty income which hasmore than doubled on existing licences. Good progress continues to be made with the Emanuel Ungaro and Ungaro Hommelicences where we continue to work very closely with the House of Ungaro. Arecent development is the signing of a five year royalty and licensing agreementfor Colombia which represents our first breakthrough into the South Americanmarket. This agreement will see the opening of an Emanuel Ungaro flagship storein Bogota and distribution through a further 28 specialist menswear outlets.Furthermore, two new flagship stores are to be opened in the near future inBucharest and Azerbaijan, extending the brand's reach. The development of our JCC brand is progressing in line with strategy. Twosignificant long term partnership agreements have recently been signed with theworld famous headwear company New Era and one of the world's original denimcompanies, Lee Cooper, Under the terms of the Lee Cooper agreement we willdistribute an exclusive 'JC-DC' denim collection to 250 Lee Cooper stores. TheJCC brand continues to strengthen its presence in the Far East. Most recently anew distribution agreement has been signed with Coronet, a member of the Itochugroup, for Japan and later this month we will be opening of a new JCC flagshipstore in Tokyo. . We continue to develop and sell the Boateng collection and sales and orders havegrown from last year, despite the dispute over licence arrangements with BespokeCouture. This was settled by the Court of Appeal in Marchpole's favour inDecember 2006 and our commitment to the brand remains unaltered. We are pleased to report that the integration of Greenmark Limited, the ladiesfootwear designer and importer, which was acquired in March 2007, has beensuccessful and we are seeing increased sales and improved margins. Homebody, the luxury clothing company which designs, manufactures anddistributes ladieswear, maternity wear and menswear which was acquired last yearhas been fully integrated into the Marchpole business model and continues tomake good progress and increase sales and distribution. A European multi-lingualwebsite went live this week and we are confident that this will deliver asignificant increase in internet sales. We therefore look forward to the future with confidence. The business continuesto perform in line with expectations with a pipeline of new opportunities fromwhich the Company is well placed to capitalise, and deliver returns toshareholders. For technical reasons Resolutions 7-11 will not be placed before today'smeeting. An explanatory letter is being sent to shareholders and theseresolutions will be put to shareholders at an EGM which will be held at theearliest possible date. For further information, please contact : Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial 020 7861 3232Emma Kent / Amy Rajendran Marchpole Holdings plc 020 7908 7777Michael Morris, Executive Deputy Chairman Note to Editors: - Marchpole Holdings plc ("Marchpole") is an international brandmanagement group that designs, produces and sells clothing and accessories forten globally recognised fashion labels. It operates in all of the world's mainmarkets - UK, mainland Europe, Middle East, Asia and the USA - Its respected brands include Boateng, Emanuel Ungaro, Ungaro Homme,Jean Charles de Castelbajac ("JCC"), Jean Charles de Castelbajac / Rossignol,Jean Charles de Castelbajac/Okaidi, Jean Charles de Castelbajac / New Era, JCDC/Lee Cooper and Homebody and Homemummy - Marchpole is renowned for its integrated approach to brandmanagement, taking a brand from concept to design studio to the customerinterface. - The Group has grown considerably in the past four years, from alicensee with one core licence (YSL menswear) - to today's internationalbusiness that manages its brands across a multitude of clothing lines andaccessories - Marchpole's acquisition (March 2006) of Moda America - the USlicensee for leading designer Emanuel Ungaro - provided further growthopportunities in the UK and America and strengthened the Company's relationshipwith Ungaro - The acquisition also enabled the Company to launch the Ungaro brand,already established by Marchpole in Europe and Asia, into the US, Canada andSouth America. The acquisition has also enabled the Company to re-launch JCCinto America. - In March 2007 Marchpole acquired 100% of Greenmark Limited, an importer and wholesaler of ladies shoes who currently supply in excess of 2.5 million pairs of shoes per annum. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange