Laura Ashley awarded £2.9m in L'Oreal dispute

Retailer Laura Ashley today said it had been awarded £2.9m (€4.3m) following a long-running legal dispute with cosmetics giant L’Oreal.

The ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris came at a price, however, as the retailer faced a legal bill of £3.8m (€5.6m) in relation to the case, which stems from a 20-year licence for L’Oreal to produce beauty products for the clothing and homewares retailer.

While the French firm was asked in 1996 to develop a series of perfumes under the Laura Ashley name, it only created one fragrance, Magic Garden.

L’Oreal eventually terminated the contract in 2002.

Laura Ashley filed a lawsuit the same year, claiming that substantial revenues had been lost as a result of the “invalid termination”, and the tribunal ruled in its favour in October 2004.

The clothing firm is expected to receive an extra £600,000 (€892,000) in interest if the award is paid by the end of December this year.

Richard Ratner, vice chairman of Seymour Pierce stockbrokers, said it seemed “incredible” that no award on costs had been made in favour of Laura Ashley.

Laura Ashley added today that it remained pleased with its trading performance in the financial year to date.

The company, well-known for its floral women’s clothing and furnishing, reported a swing into profit at the half-year stage in September.