The crisis in the German shoe trade continues. After well-known companies such as Görtz, Salamander and Shoepassion got into financial difficulties, the Osnabrück-based JH Pölking GmbH & Co. KG had to apply for insolvency proceedings under self-administration.
Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH informed about the step on Tuesday. The law firm, which specializes in restructuring cases, is providing the provisional administrator with Stefan Meyer and the provisional insolvency administrator with Ria Brüninghoff. Joachim Walterscheid from Walterscheid Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft für Restrukturaturung mbH was appointed general representative.
The reason for the insolvency application of the shoe wholesaler founded in 1894, which also affects the retail chain Lemax shoe-fashion GmbH, which belongs to the Pölking Group, is “an impending insolvency, which was caused by the crises of the past few years starting in 2020,” according to in a communication from the law firm Pluta. “The corona pandemic has had a significant impact on the entire shoe trade, especially the retail-heavy shoe trade, with the long store closures. After only a short recovery phase, the geopolitical situation with the war of aggression in Ukraine and the energy crisis inseparably associated with it have recently acted as massive inflation drivers, which has led to a very clear reluctance to consume. made the step into self-administration necessary”.
The aim now is to “sustainably restructure the company within the framework of the process and thus reposition it in a future-oriented and competitive manner,” explained Pluta. To this end, Pölking will “successively develop the existing restructuring concept further in the coming weeks and months and then immediately implement it in coordination with the administrator, his team and with the involvement of the creditors”. Business operations will therefore be “continued in full” for the time being.
The provisional trustee Meyer currently sees good future prospects for the ailing traditional company: “The initial situation found, the first talks and negotiations and in particular the early initiation of proceedings make me confident that the process objective of sustainable restructuring and thus the preservation of the company can be achieved,” explained him in a statement.