Dive Brief:

• Global Brands shares stopped trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange because of a delayed financial report.
• The company— which makes products for Ellen Tracy, b new york, Capezio and other brands — said it was responding to its auditors' requests "relating to the use of a going concern basis" for financial statements.
• Specifically, the auditors sought information around the company's "evaluation of various options in respect of its financial position, including the possible sale, disposal and restructuring of certain assets and/or businesses of the Group," the company said in a release.

Dive Insight:

Global Brands has made no secret about its recent struggles. In the company's most recent financial report, from November, CEO Rick Darling said the company had faced challenges that were "unimaginable."

"We began fiscal year 2021 [which began in April 2020] with most of our retail customers closing stores in the U.S. and Europe as social distancing restrictions were implemented around the world," Darling said. "These measures caused the cancellation of most of our Spring orders." For the period affected, the company's revenue dropped by 46% and its net loss grew by 37%. 

The executive also noted that Global Brands went through forbearance negotiations on its loan facilities after breaching a covenant tied to its net worth, and that it suffered financially in the Centric Brands bankruptcy of 2020. 

Global Brands' North American business accounts for more than half of the company's total revenue. Along with the brands it licenses to sell in North America, it also owns several.

Women's Wear Daily reported in June that Spyder and Frye, two of the company's largest licensed brands, went back to owner Authentic Brands Group. On Thursday, Authentic Brands issued a press release announcing it had assigned the Spyder brand license to Liberated Brands, which has partnered with Authentic on the Volcom brand. Authentic also said it plans to appoint new license partners for Frye.

Global Brands said in its November report that Frye had exited all of its North American retail locations and moved to online-only sales.

Earlier this year, Global Brands also sold off its South Korean Spyder business to a private equity firm. The company originally planned to use money from the sale to make payments on its debt, but in June Global Brands said that it needed the liquidity from the sale to fund its operations ahead of a busy apparel season. That, in turn, put the company into negotiations with its lenders over debt repayment. 

The company said then that it was considering its debt restructuring options, including more asset sales as well as sales of the company's businesses in an effort "to ensure that the Group has a sustainable balance sheet in the long term."