Tory business guru’s bra firm has a droop

Losses as Mone joins the Lords

THE bra firm founded by David Cameron’s new business tsar and latest Tory peer has plunged nearly £400,000 into the red.

Ultimo Brands, set-up by Scottish entrepreneur Michelle Mone, made a loss of £388,191 in 2014 – up from a £48,673 loss in 2013.

Last year’s sagging performance came as Ms Mone was still a director.

In August, she announced she had left the firm, and its parent company MJM International, as her political and other business interests grew.

The droop in profitability emerged as Ms Mone prepares to enter the House of Lords as a Government business tsar today. A spokesman said: “Michelle has no involvement in Ultimo as a shareholder or director.

“She has not seen any financial statements or reports of the business, which is now run by others.”

Accounts filed at Companies House show Ultimo’s directors expect it to make another loss this year.

Ms Mone, 43, who grew up in the east end of G Glasgow, has been a appointed by the Department m for Work and P Pensions to carry out a review of the support available for people from Loss made by Michelle Mone’s Ultimo Brands company in 2014 less advantaged areas to start up their own businesses.

Her report, dubbed the Mone Review, is due for publication by next summer. Critics say her relatively early peerage is a result of her slick public relations rather than the longterm success of her businesses.

Ms Mone was also a high-profile supporter of the Better Together campaign during last year’s Scottish referendum and was subjected to a series of verbal attacks.

Earlier this year she moved home from Glasgow to London.

Reportedly worth £20million, she founded Ultimo’s “cleavageenhancing” bras in 1996 with her then husband Michael.

He left the company in 2013, after they divorced.