N Brown shares tumble as scope of claim increases By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk

Investing.com – Shares in retailer N Brown were trading lower on Wednesday after the company announced Allianz Insurance plans to expand the scope of its case against the company’s JD Williams subsidiary.

Background

N Brown (LON:BWNG) is currently involved in a claim and counterclaim with Allianz (DE:ALVG) Insurance regarding the sale of historic insurance products between 1985 and 2015.

The proceedings are currently at an early stage, with each party having only recently completed a disclosure exercise.

The AIM-listed retailer has said it is not possible to reliably estimate the amount of any potential financial outflow and has, therefore, not made provision for this claim at this time.

Update

Allianz has now issued a further application to the Court under which it is seeking to increase the scope of its original claim in relation to a further customer redress exercise yet to be undertaken.

The German insurer estimates the value of this additional element of the claim, should it be successful, to be up to £36mln.

Previously, N Brown said Allianz was seeking to reclaim £29.4mln plus interest, a “potentially significant” amount.

The issue does not look like going away any time soon with the trial not scheduled until March next year.

At 10:20BST, shares in N Brown were trading lower by 7.5% at 58.53 pence per share.