The Hamburg shoe retail group Ludwig Görtz GmbH has got into financial difficulties due to the adverse market conditions. On Tuesday, the company therefore had to apply for a so-called protective shield procedure for the parent company and self-administered insolvency proceedings for the two operating subsidiaries Görtz Retail GmbH and Görtz Logistik GmbH. The district court of Hamburg has already granted the request, according to a statement.
The company, which claims to operate around 160 branches in Germany and Austria, justified the measures with “significant sales declines” due to consumers’ increasing “reluctance to buy”. “The war in Ukraine, with the increased energy costs and high inflation, has led to considerable uncertainty among customers,” explained the retailer. In order to “adapt the cost structures to the changed market conditions”, the group management has now “decided to take a logical step in restructuring the company”.
Business operations should continue without restrictions
For the time being, “business operations in the branches, the headquarters in Hamburg and the two central warehouses are continuing without restrictions,” the company emphasized. The management around CEO Frank Revermann and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Tobias Volgmann remain in office, the court has appointed the lawyer Sven-Holger Undritz from the law firm White & Case as the provisional administrator.
According to the group, the wages and salaries of the approximately 1,800 employees are “secured for the months of September, October and November 2022 by payments from the Federal Employment Agency”. From December, they are to be paid again “from the company’s own funds”.
CEO Revermann expects “a successful future after the restructuring”
As part of the process, the group now wants to “consistently restructure and position itself for the future”. The aim is to “quickly complete the judicial restructuring procedures in Görtz with a restructuring plan,” explained the retailer. “Management will develop the plan over the next three months and present it to the court. If the creditors agree to this plan and the court confirms it, the preservation and sustainable continuation of Görtz will be secured.”
Despite the current problems, CEO Revermann sees good opportunities for the company: “Görtz is a strong and well-known brand that still has a lot of potential,” he emphasized in a statement. “As an omnichannel retailer, we are convinced that we can expect a successful future after the restructuring and that we will achieve sustainable growth.”