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Palmers in crisis: 515 employees are waiting for their salaries!
Palmers files for bankruptcy. There will be no layoffs for 515 employees for the time being while the company looks for investors.
Palmers in crisis: 515 employees are waiting for their salaries!
The lingerie retailer Palmers filed for bankruptcy on Thursday. This has far-reaching consequences for the 515 employees in the current 113 branches, who have not received a salary since January. The company announced that for the time being it will not close any more branches than the 20 already announced. There are also no plans for layoffs, although layoffs were already registered with the Public Employment Service (AMS) as a precautionary measure at the beginning of the month. The outstanding salaries should be paid out in the coming weeks, as Gerhard Weinhofer from Creditreform emphasized. “In Austria, this doesn’t take months, but weeks,” he explained, adding that employees will soon be better informed, as company meetings have already taken place to inform the workforce about the current situation.
Investor search and restructuring plan
Finding investors is crucial to Palmers' future. How suedtirolnews.it reported that the company is aiming for a restructuring process under its own responsibility, which became necessary because the necessary capital inflows were not made in a timely manner. Rumors are already circulating about potential investors from Turkey and China. This was also highlighted by Weinhofer, who indicated that further details will be presented at the next creditors' meeting in early March. The company's liabilities were stated in the bankruptcy filing at 51 million euros, while its assets amounted to 11.5 million euros. If you include the secured outstanding debts, this amounts to approximately 69 million euros.
The insolvency also has an impact on financing, as a loan of 14.4 million euros, which is 90 percent secured by the COVID-19 Financing Agency of the Federal GmbH (COFAG), is not counted among the secured outstanding debts. In this case, Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) acts as the insolvency creditor. Palmers is hoping for a quick solution to secure the remaining stores and therefore jobs, while management is expected to work closely with restructuring manager Maria-Christina Nau.