Quentin Griffiths, co-founder and former director of online store ASOS, whose shares rocketed from 5p to 85p in 2004, believes similarly acronymic online retailer EBTM, which his e-retail company is buying in a reverse takeover, is ‘as strong as ASOS’. He specifically points to a ‘very strong sales curve since it launched’, adding that ‘it has got a very strong proposition’.

Griffiths brings the experience of building a similar business, after seeing sales rise from nothing to £7m in his four years as marketing director at ASOS. ‘If you’ve not done it before the learning curve is very steep.’

EBTM sells ‘music-inspired’ fashion and accessories, including band t-shirts (from the Rolling Stones to Limp Bizkit), clothes ‘in the style of’ bands and fashion brands with close associations to music. Richard Breeden, EBTM’s founder and chief executive of the new group, has 12 years’ experience in the music and merchandise industries and claims ‘no-one else is delivering the same concept’.

With illegal downloading increasing the penetration, and hence cultural influence, of music but supposedly damaging sales of CDs, Breeden maintains record companies and bands are looking to other areas to maintain revenues. He sees music as a ‘key influencer of lifestyle in modern youth culture’ and points out that UK fashion industry journal Drapers has identified ‘a whole trend towards music fashion becoming the “big thing” in autumn 2006’.

As well as 21% of the shares, Breeden has considerable further incentive to succeed, with four million ‘incentive warrants’ exercisable at 4p if EBTM produces at least £516,000 pre-tax profits in the 12 months to either April 2007 or 2008. The company 'will be putting out some numbers towards the end of the month’, post the completion of the acquisition and EGM on 28 February.

At face value this looks like a very tempting investment.