Stricken Aussie surfer blown out water after brand valued at zero
TROUBLED Australian surfwear maker Billabong yesterday said its flagship brand is now completely worthless.
The Australian listed company, which fell to a loss of A$859.5m (£496.6m) for the year ending June, wrote down the carrying value of the famous Billabong brand label from A$252m to zero. It also said its Von Zipper, Palmers and Element brands were worth nothing.
The company, once a stock market darling, has been crushed by a wall of debt taken out at the height of the pre-financial crisis buyout boom.
It is currently subject to a tug of war between two private equity-led consortiums hoping to restructure its debt pile.
“We are nearing the end of a long process that has caused distraction, impacted on staff morale and has been very costly,” Billabong chairman Ian Pollard said.
The total value of brands after the writedown fell to A$90.3m from $A383.4m a year earlier.