Hochman’s Son David Quits As Naked Director

David Hochman has resigned as a director of Naked Brand Group Inc. No reason was provided. He is the son of CEO Carole Hochman.

Naked, a public company, is apparently close to completing a merger with the much larger, privately-held, New Zealand-based Bendon Limited.

In early 2014, David Hochman, working with his mother and other investors, announced they taken over Naked, a small producer of men’s underwear. As of June, 2014, David had become a company director and owned about 6.9% of the company’s then outstanding shares.

The takeover did not turn out well. In a recent filing Naked admitted that “as of July 31, 2017, the company had not yet achieved profitable operations, had incurred a net loss of $4,813,735 [in the first six months of this year alone] and had an accumulated deficit of $61,993,318 and expects to incur significant further losses in the development of its business.” In its last fiscal year Naked reported just $1.84 million in sales, with a loss of $10.8 million.

The proposed merger with Bendon, which said it generates about $100 million in annual sales, was announced in January of 2017. According to the plan as outlined then, Naked shareholders would own about 7% of the shares of the resulting entity, with Bendon shareholders owning the rest. The plan is for the newly formed firm to continue as a public company.

Naked’s latest SEC filing, which was signed by Carole Hochman, stated in full: “On October 20, 2017, Mr. David Hochman and Mr. Andrew Kaplan advised Naked Brand Group Inc. (the “Company”) that each would resign as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company, effective immediately. Messrs. Hochman’s and Kaplan’s resignations were not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.” — NM