Hot Tuna faces wipeout as surfwear sales plunge

(Getty Images)

Hot Tuna, the crippled surfwear business which once boasted the Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson as a director, came closer to a total wipeout yesterday after new losses reduced hopes of finding a buyer for the brand. The company, founded for Australian surfers in 1969, has repeatedly struggled to keep sales at a sustainable level and admitted yesterday that they had fallen in all of its markets in Europe, Australia and the United States. Losses for the year were £862,000 – lower than the previous year's £1.4m, but sales also fell from £464,000 to £207,000. Hot Tuna's shares fell by a quarter to only 0.08p.