Can’t talk, won’t talk

A statement to the stock market today from nicotine-free vape business Chill Brands:

It has suspended chief executive Callum Sommerton “in connection” with “allegations”, “around the use of inside information”.

This suspension “does not constitute disciplinary action or a disciplinary penalty and does not imply any assumption that Mr Sommerton is guilty of any misconduct”.

Well, it kind of does imply it, in all fairness. But we shall see – he is innocent until proven otherwise.

Where should hacks seeking clarification go?

Under Media Enquiries is an investor relations email. That’s it.

The website has a News & Media tab, but no contact details, just an address.

You could get the idea they don’t want to talk to us much.

This is becoming ever more common, and I don’t think it is in these firms’ interests to play the silent game.

Even just a guy on the phone saying “I can’t tell you anything beyond the statement” is better than this.

Some of us might not be clear what a nicotine-free vape product really is. We might want to check other uncontentious information.

Since Chill Brands has a small market cap of about £12 million it might say it can’t pay for expensive press relations (it has just hired top legal firm Freshfields to look into the CEO however).

For sure, Chill Brands can’t afford and probably don’t need Brunswick.

But in a situation where they already look bad, not having a spokesperson hardly helps.

There’s an opportunity here for one-woman PR firms, surely, to charge a small retainer for when companies like Chill Brands could really do with someone on hand, if only to say “no further comment”.

Twenty such companies paying a retainer of, what, £2k a month? Looks like a business to me…

Chill Brands executives, meanwhile, are making extensive use of the company products and hoping they work as advertised.