Chairman denies selling business to bail out his Paris-listed firm ST Dupont
Luxury goods retailer Dickson Concepts (International) plans to buy Tommy Hilfiger's Asia business from its chairman for $396 million after failing in its bids to acquire several other brands.
Dickson Concepts said the price of Tommy Hilfiger, which operates 89 stores in Asia, represented 7.8 times the $50.7 million net profit for the year to March. Net profit was 2.55 per cent higher than a year ago - near Dickson Concepts' net profit growth of 2.6 per cent to $208.38 million for the year to March on turnover of $2.64 billion.
Chairman Dickson Poon yesterday said that the sale of Tommy Hilfiger's retail outlets and distribution rights to the Hong Kong-listed arm was not a move to bail out his Paris-listed firm ST Dupont.
Some media reported that Mr Poon needed to spend as much as Euro50 million ($496.3 million) to rescue ST Dupont from bankruptcy a few months ago. Mr Poon said negotiation with Dickson Concepts on the Tommy Hilfiger deal was launched well after ST Dupont's restructuring.
Still, analysts have said Dickson Concepts' image had been tarnished by the many connected transactions between the firm and Mr Poon.
In 2000, Dickson Concepts failed to disclose a deal to buy hardware and software from Mr Poon's Dickson Management Consultancy for $130 million.