The off-island company to which the government said it awarded a TT merchandising contract just eight months ago has gone into liquidation.

But the Cube Partnership’s parent company insists it holds the contract - and has already developed a range of merchandise for sale at TT 2024.

The UK based firm replaced island-based Motorsport Merchandise as the official supplier for TT merchandise earlier this year.

In January this year the government said: ‘The Department for Enterprise has entered into contract with Cube Partnership for the licensed supply and production of official Isle of Man TT Races merchandise.’

Records held by Companies House in the UK show that the company had debts of over £2m when it appointed liquidators in July this year.

The chief executive officer of Cube International Group, Andrew Graham, said: ‘Despite the forecasts providing a more positive outlook, the reality, on the back of a COVID Pandemic, and a less than positive economic position, was not such a positive story and I can confirm that we have closed Cube Partnership.

‘It was clear that partnership was carrying too much debt, with ineffective strategic realignment to manage a way through it in the timescale necessary.’

He added that the wider group, including Cube International Ltd, ‘continues to trade through the historic challenges and has successfully delivered at the Isle of Man TT’.

Mr Graham also said that the licence for TT merchandise is held by Cube International Ltd and that it is ‘already developing a new range of Merchandise for the 2024 Isle of Man TT Races and is looking forward to sharing these designs with Isle of Man based retailers shortly so that they can place orders and provide merchandise for their customers in 2024’.

We have asked the Department for Enterprise for more clarity around the contract it signed earlier this year and if it was informed that Cube Partnership was due to enter liquidation.

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