Upmarket German fashion house Hugo Boss said today a US court had dismissed a class-action suit against it by shareholders who had alleged an overstatement of revenues.
The suit, filed in July last year, said the firm's former US chief Mr Marty Staff and his deputy Mr Vincent Ottomanelli "knew or recklessly disregarded that the company was overstating revenues...as a result of inventory manipulations" from November 5th, 2001 to May 28th, 2002.
The US chief and his deputy left the company in May 2002 following accounting discrepancies that left a €6-million gap in inventories.
Boss did not give a reason for the suit's dismissal in its statement.
Analysts welcomed the news that the issue had been resolved but said any positive share-price impact was overshadowed by the sluggish economy which has slowed Boss's suit sales.
Shares in Hugo Boss were down 0.87 per cent at €12.51 by 8:51 a.m., compared with a 0.22 per cent drop on the German MDAX mid-cap index and a 0.6 per cent fall on the pan-European DJ Stoxx retail index.