Billabong Seeking Up To $290 Million To Pay Down Debt

News

Billabong Seeking Up To $290 Million To Pay Down Debt

After halting trading of its stock late last week, Billabong announced a rights offering to help pay down debt and lowered its profit forecast.

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Billabong Week Continues With Scotty Lago and musical guest the Crocodiles!

Tune in to “The Daily Habit” Thursday, May 14, 2009 to check out Scotty Lago and some great music!

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Stolen Identities on Twitter Pose Problem For Brands

Twitter users beware from whom you are receiving “tweets;” it could be a squatter or rival instead of the real deal, according to an Australian Business Day article about the social networking tool. More and more brands - including Nike and Billabong - are discovering that their identities have been stolen by fans or rivals that have registered their company’s name on Twitter - a fairly easy task, according to a law firm interviewed for the story:

“Rather than see a replay of the domain names scam of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when opportunists registered prominent brand names as internet domains only to sell them to the trademark-owning companies for huge profits, Freehills is warning its clients to take control. ‘Registering is free. Not registering could cost you in the future,’ a Freehills partner specialising in intellectual property, Frances Drummond, says.

Some companies, such as Billabong, have been quick off the mark, snapping up names. A Billabong spokesman, John Mossop, said: ‘Billabong has a strong online presence and that includes three official Twitter addresses: billabonggirls, BBgirls and billabong1973. It would appear none of the other Billabong addresses [on Twitter] are ours, so we’re making inquiry into their ownership.’

And it seems that the issue may take some time to resolve:

“Nike is another company to have lost its identity; search Twitter for “Nike” and the site returns 175 results, with none clearly the official account of the global sporting brand.

Drummond says that unless an interloper is using the brand name to masquerade as that brand and possibly even sell products that are trading on that name, brand owners are relatively powerless. Unlike domain names, which require registration details, Twitter allows a level of anonymity that could give cover to those who might want to hijack the brand.

‘There’s nothing to stop another company from taking that identity and using it to their advantage,’ Drummond warns.”

To read the article in its entirety, click HERE.

ADMIN

April 29 2009 | 569 views | 1 comment

News

Matthew Perrin Files For Bankruptcy, Firewire Surfboards Not Impacted

News reports from Australia began circulating recently that former Billabong executive Matthew Perrin filed for personal bankruptcy with Insolvency Trustee Service of Australia.

According to reports from The Australian:

“In 1998, at the age of 26, he and his brother Scott teamed with former Brambles chief executive and Qantas chairman Gary Pemberton to buy a 49 per cent share in Billabong from Rena Merchant, the ex-wife of Billabong founder Gordon Merchant.
Scott Perrin sold out but Matthew Perrin and Mr Pemberton arranged a sharemarket float in August 2000 that was a spectacular success, with Mr Merchant selling his 51 per cent to the public at $2.30 a share and leaving the others holding most of the balance. Matthew Perrin sold some stock into the new float, but he had $41 million of stock at the listing, while Mr Pemberton had $37.2 million. The company became a global success worth about $1.7 billion.”

Apparently, sometime between making all that money and losing it, he invested in Firewire Surfboards. Following the news, Firewire Surfboards CEO Mark Price released this statement to the media, confirming that Perrin is indeed an investor in the company, but stressing that Firewire has not been impacted by his bankruptcy.

Press Release From Firewire:

Firewire was saddened to learn that Matthew Perrin, one of the companies lead
investors over the past 3 years, had filed for bankruptcy protection in Australia due to real estate and other business dealings unrelated to Firewire.

“Matthew?s commitment was one of the foundations on which Firewire was built”, said Firewire CEO Mark Price, “and he along with our other lead investors, combined with our innovative product and Taj?s success, have allowed Firewire to develop into a globally recognized surfboard brand in a relatively short space of time.”

Heading into its 3rd full year of operations, Firewire continues to gain market share and die hard converts to the companies innovative technology, the most recent of which, Rapid-fire, combines bamboo deck skins with internal carbon rods to control flex properties.

“Our business is by no means immune to global market conditions”, continued Price, “but with a highly differentiated product and exceptionally clean distribution, we believe that Firewire is well positioned for today?s market conditions and for the future.”

josh hunter

March 03 2009 | 1,408 views

Billabong Reports 7.1-Percent Decline In First Half Profit

Billabong International Ltd reported a 7.1 per cent decline in first half profit to $82.4 million. The company says it remains on track to achieve full year earnings per share growth of between six and ten percent for the full year.

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josh hunter

February 19 2009 | 4,610 views | 3 comments

News

Peetu Piiroinen Takes Top TTR Rank

Finnish phenom Piiroinen jumps into TTR’s first place after Air & Style Innsbruck.

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ADMIN

February 03 2009 | 112 views | 2 comments

Product Preview: 2009/10 Men’s and Women’s Outerwear

Preview upcoming trends in outerwear for the 2009/2010 season.

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ADMIN

December 26 2008 | 14,966 views | 8 comments

Features

Billabong Says Slowing Demand In U.S. Caused First-Half Forecast Cut

According to a report from Bloomberg, Billabong International Ltd forecast its first-half earnings-per-share to fall due to slowing demand in the weakened U.S. market.

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josh hunter

December 04 2008 | 349 views | 1 comment

News

Donavon Debuts a New Collection By Billabong

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Press Release

December 03 2008 | 445 views | 3 comments

Features

Billabong Seeks $674,000 AUS From Brothers Neilsen

According to a report from Goldcoast.com.au, Billabong International is taking Brothers Neilsen to court to recover $674,000 AUS in debt the company claims to have accrued between November last year and May of this year.

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