A couple listed as majority shareholders of Oxford Communications, a company which the Registrar of Companies has threatened to dissolve, said they have not been involved with the firm for nearly a year.

Yesterday, The Royal Gazette listed Dennis and Charmaine Burgess as owning 61 percent and James Kerwin as owning 39 percent of Oxford Communications, which was paid $150,000 by the Department of Tourism to organise the 2009 Love Festival that brought 98 visitors to Bermuda's shores.

The information was from the company's incorporation papers, dated November 2007, the only information in the Oxford Communications file at the registry.

Last night the couple contacted the newspaper and said: "The partnership between Dennis Burgess, James Kerwin and Charmaine Burgess was formally dissolved almost one year ago — many months before the Bermuda Love Festival.

"Dennis Burgess and Charmaine Burgess are in no way affiliated with Oxford Communications."

Mrs. Burgess declined to comment on why the partnership was dissolved.

On August 14, the Registrar of Companies filed a notice that Oxford Communications could face being dissolved as the Registrar had reason to believe it was no longer in operation and said "unless cause is shown to the contrary, [the company would] be struck off the register and dissolved". An employee at the registry said the company had yet to pay administrative fees, one of the reasons a company can be struck from the registry.

Once a company is struck off the registry it cannot do business in Bermuda.

Several attempts to contact Mr. Kerwin, through a variety of his companies as well as the Department of Tourism, over the last week, have been unsuccessful.

As well as organising the Love Festival, Oxford Communications has been involved with Premier Ewart Brown's charity, The Bermuda Health Foundation. The company was the primary sponsor of the charity's award luncheon and celebrity golf tournament this June. It is the second year running they have sponsored the event. Mr. Kerwin also donated $12,500 to the charity.

Mr. Kerwin has several contracts with the Department of Tourism through two other companies he is involved in, Kerwin Communications and Rock Media.

These include a $15,000 contract to "increase visitation" by organising a Diamond Promotion Conference at the Fairmont Southampton in March. A request for information to Mr. Kerwin and the Department of Tourism about what the event was and how many visitors came to the Island for it was not answered.

Answers given to parliamentary questions in March stated that Kerwin Communications and Cornerstone Media were paid $539,147.52 in commissions by the Department of Tourism for advertisements in international magazines, trade magazines and overseas signage. The answer did not state how the money was divided between the two companies and Mr. Kerwin is not involved in Cornerstone Media.

Rock Media is responsible for all advertising signage in Bermuda's bus shelters as well as all display signage in Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport.

Last week, Rock Media launched a visitor-oriented publication, 'It's A Bermudaful Day' at a local bar. A press release issued internationally by the company said Mr. Kerwin hosted the event and invited media, The Royal Gazette was not invited and understands a Mid-Ocean News reporter was kicked out of the event. The magazine will be published six times per year: May, June, July, August, September and October.