Waverly Owner NexCen in Trouble

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/2/2008 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Diversified brand management firm NexCen Brands, Inc., which owns and licenses the Bill Blass and Waverly brands, said on May 19 it "believes that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern."

NexCen has delayed filing its quarterly report and said "its 2007 financial statements should no longer be relied upon."

While nonetheless maintaining it expects no changes to its 2007 financial results, the board of directors has retained independent counsel to review its situation.

The actions follow the discovery by the new cfo (Kenneth Hall, who joined in mid-March as evp, cfo and treasurer) of previously undisclosed ramifications of January amendments to the NexCen bank credit facility.

The key fallout seems to be that the amendments "reduced the amount of cash available to the company for general use."

In March, the company reported a net loss of $4.6 million on revenues of $34.4 million for 2007, its first full year in business.

NexCen said it now is "actively exploring all strategic alternatives to enhance its liquidity, including potential capital market transactions, the possible sale of one or more of its businesses, and discussions with the company's lender."

As expected, the company on May 23 said it had received notice from Nasdaq that its stock was in jeopardy of being delisted from the exchange, a direct result of its not filing its 10-Q quarterly report on time. NexCen said it was "committed to resolving these issues as quickly as possible."