Clickmango parent broken up
- Added:
- Jun 29, 2001
The Swedish based e-commerce consultancy, the UK arm of which bought a minority interest in Clickmango earlier this year, will next month face an EGM where shareholders will be asked to approve a deal selling off virtually all the company's overseas groups, including its UK outfits.
Adcore's UK arm Adcore Strategy looks set to be sold off along with all Adcore's overseas interests as part of a SEK 30m (2m) deal with a new company mainly owned by Adcore's Danish CEO Martin S Hauge and senior consultants in the company's overseas interests. Adcore Ltd and Adcore Strategy will be affected in the UK, along with subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and Germany.
The Stockholm based core of the company, which boasts Ericsson and SAS among its main customers, blamed the rapid change in market conditions and admitted in a statement: “The international expansion has been a failure for Adcore. The company has not had the capacity to manage and develop its international operations.”
The deal would leave Adcore with just its Swedish and Japanese interests, and see the other international aspects transferred to the new group. However, a spokeswoman for Adcore Strategy said it would make little difference for the British based operation which would continue its local operations - including Clickmango.
“It is very much business as usual,” she said. “It will have no impact in the UK.”
Indeed, the company could enjoy a boost soon afterwards with the resolution of its efforts to re-establish the Clickmango site. The spokeswoman confirmed negotiations, which were initially aimed at relaunching Clickmango both on the web and the High Street, were ongoing at the moment and that the firm hoped to have positive news on the site's future within the next month.
Adcore Strategy purchased a minority shareholding in Clickmango from US company Red Beach in February this year, following the health site's collapse last September. Adcore claimed it was negotiating with potential trade partners.
Red Beach had purchased Clickmango's technology and branding from its founders Toby Rowland, son of late tycoon Tiny Rowland, and Robert Norton, but second phase funding for the site failed to materialise and the site closed. The site was backed by TV personality Joanna Lumley.