Marchpole is one of those stocks which have had a really bad time. Boardroom battles, losses, price collapse, profit warnings up the ying yang.

Now all of those things seem to be sorted out, new management are getting to grips, new contracts and the price is on the up. So much so that Monday ought to see a 50/200 day MA golden cross.

DYOR of course, but I think I will be putting a few of these away at the open.

Socco

London Evening Standard Business Article (Front page of section)

MARCHPOLE LEGAL ACTION OVER BOATENG BREACH

By Nick Goodway

Designer label fashion group Marchpole is to take legal action against one of its hottest properties, Ozwald Boateng.

It alleges Boateng and his company Bespoke Couture have breached their contract over his diffusion range produced by Marchpole subsidiary Artpower. This is based on the "old school tie" look and is sold across a wide range of stores.

Marchpole chief executive Greg Tufnell said the dispute went back to autumn 2003 when Marchpole launched his first diffusion collection.

He said: "Ozwald had an agreement to supply Debenhams with the O-Z range which our contract called for him to end by September 2003. We were quite insistent because we did not want O-Z clothes appearing on the shelves as we were trying to launch a new range a notch higher. But there was still alot of O-Z stuff in Debenhams at the start of this year and that clearly had an effect on our launch. We are not necessarily seeking damages but we want to enforce the terms of our contract."

A spokesman for Marchpole said the company was "sending a warning shot across Boateng's bows". It added: " The company continues enthusiastically to produce and sell the Boateng diffusion range."

Marchpole said the legal proceedings should have no material effect on the stock market's current forecasts for its profits, but the shares were marked down 4.25p to 27.25p.

(ends)

Anybody see the buys after hours? 2650000 shares bought.... thats around 728750 pounds worth! Should be interesting tom am me thinks.

dawsinho: I'd be very surprised if we don't recover today's lost ground. Someone was certainly buying big at the close.

Grevis2

Can't help but feel the little guys been dumped on today! The legal proceedings seem like a storm in a tea cup, if the RNS was more detailed i think plenty of holders would of kept hold of thier shares. Instead plenty sold giving the big boys a perfect buying opp. WIll be up bright and early tom thats for sure, expect lots of early activity..

dawsinho: I agree with all you have said. That RNS was too brief and caused many to flee the nest. I shall also endeavour to log in bright and early tomorrow. Good luck!

Lombard
Martin Wolf
Lucy Kellaway
Amity Shlaes

Today's FT:-

Marchpole starts action against Ozwald Boateng
By Philip Stafford
Published: December 1 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 1 2004 02:00

Shares in Marchpole, the designer clothing store group, fell 11 per cent after it began legal proceedings against Ozwald Boateng, the designer, for an alleged breach of contract.


The company said it had begun proceedings against Mr Boateng's Bespoke Couture company in relation to a licensed diffusion range produced by Artpower Limited, a Marchpole subsidiary, in 2003. Previously, Bespoke Couture had sold another lower priced diffusion range to Debenhams, the high street department store.

As part of the initial agreement between the two parties in October 2002, Marchpole said the lower priced collection was required to be removed by September 2003, when its first Boeteng collection was launched. But Marchpole said they were not removed until early 2004.

"We have ultimately run out of patience," said Greg Tufnell, chief executive. "We were given certain assurances that weren't met." Mr Tufnell said Marchpole still hoped to reach an agreement with Bespoke rather than go through the courts.

Marchpole did not believe the issue would have a material effect on market expectations for the company.

It also hoped the disagreement would not affect its relationship with the designer. It has worked with Mr Boateng since October 2002 and the licence is set to run until 2009. Marchpole has continued to produce and promote the Boateng brand, spending heavily on advertisements in fashion magazines such as FHM and developing Mr Boateng's autumn 2005 collection.

The Boateng contract is small but significant and a fast-expanding part of Marchpole's business.

Shore Capital, house broker, estimated that Boateng sales for the current financial year would exceed 1.5m but group sales would be about 28.5m.

Bespoke had no comment to make on the issue.

Marchpole shares lost 3p to 27p yesterday, valuing the group at 39m. Philip Stafford

Grevis2,

Did you make it out of bed then..... lol! just ticked up after plenty of buying. Expect an rns regarding those late buys last night before the week is out.

dawsinho: LOL! Yep, pulled my brain together in time to see these open in cheerful mood this AM.

What a fuss about nothing. The person responsible for yesterday's badly worded RNS needs shooting. Cost us all 4p per share and maybe more as these were making steady progress back toward their high. Now we need to recover lost ground just to move forward again. Still it's given some a chance to buy more on the cheap. Just feel sorry for those who dropped their holdings yesterday. No doubt some bought back in this morning once the real cause was out in the open. Good luck!

Trouble is grevis, that RNS has tainted this company for me.
This news must have been known for a time within the company, no wonder the price has drifted since those results, sellers in the know imo.

The RNS was dreadful. The management are now in question as far as I am concerned, still holding but not as enthusiastically as before.

capa

capa: Point taken, but on reflection their attempt to bring Boateng into line is perhaps a sign of the company's growing confidence now they have much stronger brands on board. My faith in MPH is not dented at all. Just wish they had been more careful with the wording of that RNS.

Well there it is... Still feel something is brewing in the background. Good show of faith from the director's though

Marchpole Holdings PLC
02 December 2004



2 December 2004

Marchpole Holdings plc
(the 'Company')

Director's shareholding



The Company was notified on 1 December 2004 that Michael Morris, Executive
Director, has acquired, in aggregate, 175,000 ordinary shares of 1 pence each
('Shares') in the Company. Michael Morris is now interested in a total of
25,421,715 Shares representing 19.19 per cent of the issued share capital of the
Company.


Michael Morris acquired 75,000 Shares on 30 November 2004 for a consideration of
27.5 pence per share and a further 100,000 Shares on 1 December 2004 for a
consideration of 29 pence per share.



For further information contact:

Marchpole
Justin Hampshire - Finance Director 020 7908 7700


Shore Capital
Alex Borrelli 020 7408 4090






This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

I'd have felt happier if he had bought more earlier, we could then have had an RNS stating this on the same day as the one on Tuesday, softening the blow.
Mind you he wouldn't have picked them up on the cheap then would he !!

capa

Capa,

Couldn't agree more, still did give us the chance top up at a good price! Think we'll stay around the 30p mark until we get some news regarding Fraud etc, any thoughts?

One good thing about that Boateng RNS is that it will keep the press interested in MPH. Baoteng is such a public figure that the publicity will do us no harm whatsoever and will bring this stock to the attention of more people. As they say, 'every cloud has a silver lining'. Michael Morris evidently though so when he added 175,000 yesterday. He proves the point that it's all 'a storm in a teacup'. Boateng has simply got to pull the plug on Debenhams otherwise he is in breach of his contract with MPH. It's perhaps a sign of the company's growing confidence that they are now prepared to bring this matter out in to the open. However, had the RNS been better worded, then it would have had little or no affect on the price of this stock. What we now have is an opportunity to top up on the cheap. Their last set of results were excellent and they promise more of the same to come. Keep smiling and enjoy the ride.

Trading has faded away. Had expected the latest RNS to have had more impact. What is Morris' plan? To let the price fall away so he can get more shares/the whole business at a lower price? He seems to be the only one accumulating in any scale. If he does want to take MPH private he will not want to pay any more than he has to.

Feel there is more to this than what the casual observer can see. There must be a reason for the house broker's apparent "pessimism".

55011: Their house broker was very positive. Based on their estimate for the year and assuming a very modest PE of 10, MPH should be 45p.

"Broker Shore Capital described the results as excellent and said it was upgrading its full year pre-tax profit forecast for 2005 by about 200,000 to 4.5 million."

Sold some late yesterday. As already posted not happy with the way that RNS was handled and confidence in management dented somewhat as a result.

Still got a few, but less exposed now as MPH was my largest holding.

capa

same as ... chart said out @ 32p ... could take time to recover...onto bdh, demg, yoo, etc

Last week director buying @ 27.5p & 29p.Sell off overdone.Taking advantage of buying on temporary weakness.Good news out today.


RNS Number:0315G
Marchpole Holdings PLC
06 December 2004

6 December 2004

Marchpole Holdings plc
(the "Company")

Castelbajac boutiques opening in South Korea

Marchpole Holdings plc, which designs, produces and sells high quality clothing
and accessories for six world class brands (Yves Saint Laurent, Boateng,
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac ("JCC"), Rossignol, Emmanuel Ungaro and Ungaro) is
pleased to announce that, in conjunction with their partner Daikyung Global Co.
Ltd and under the agreement announced on 3 November 2004, new Castelbajac
boutiques will be opening in South Korea.

Marchpole's first boutique is scheduled to open in Lotte World duty free shop in
December this year followed by two boutique openings in January 2005 at Lotte
JeJu duty free shop and Shilla JeJu duty free shop, both located in JeJu Island.

Department store and boutique openings are planned to start in January 2005 with
the first in Woolsan Hyundai department store and, in March 2005, a further
boutique in Coex Hyundai department store, located in Seoul.

For further information contact:

Marchpole
Greg Tufnell - Chief Executive 020 7908 7700
Michael Morris - Executive Director

Shore Capital
Alex Borrelli 020 7408 4090

Buchanan
Tim Thompson / Nicola Cronk 020 7466 5000

Notes to editors:

In September this year, Marchpole announced strong interim results for the six
months ended 2 October 2004, with operating profit up 194% to #2.6 million
(2003: #0.9m) on increased turnover of #15.7 million (2003 : #8.0 million).


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

MSCBRBDDDUGGGSX

Ok so we are all confident that this is a good buy. So why did the share price take another clobbering today? This is one hell of a tree shake (LOL). Common sense says that their must be areason for such an almighty fall, but I can't see anything in the public arena that would account for it.