German cataloguer Neckermann said it will file for insolvency
after its private-equity owner refused to provide further
financing to fund its turnaround plans.
In April, Neckermann had announced a restructuring to move the
business purely online. The move would have seen the company shed
some 1,380 jobs as it focused away from relying on catalogues to
ecommerce, where it makes 80 percent of its turnover.
“The future of mail order is in the internet. We cannot let
this pass us by,” said a company statement at the time.
However, just three months later Neckermann said it did not have
the funds to pay staff the compensation they were seeking for the
redundancies. According to reports, private equity firm Sun
Capital said it had been willing to provide €25 million
($30 million, £19 million) in financing, but that the plan
presented by the management would have needed €60 million
($73 million, £47 million) and it decided to withdraw
investment.
At another German retailer Karstadt, some 2,000 jobs are on the
line as the company announces its restructuring. The cuts are to
be made primarily through early retirements, letting temporary
contracts end and voluntary exits, but still see the company shed
almost 10 percent of its workforce by 2014. Karstadt says
challenging market conditions and the euro crisis have forced it
to simplify its structures and processes, in order for it to be
efficient in the long term. Karstadt was rescued from bankruptcy
in 2010.
Over in France, luxury goods and retail conglomerate PPR is still
seeking bids for its catalogue and online retail group Redcats.
Rumours are, however, that Redcats is too expensive for potential
buyers to acquire in its entirety, so PPR now plans to break it
up along geographical lines. It is understood that PPR will sell
the US, Scandinavian and other European businesses-which include
La Redoute, Daxon and Vertbaudet-separately. According to
reports, at least one part may be sold by the end of this
year.
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