Schlecker files for insolvency – plan for insolvency procee

According to the company, the intention is the preparation of a plan for insolvency proceedings. The filing concerns Anton Schlecker e.K., Schlecker XL GmbH and Schlecker Home Shopping GmbH. IhrPlatz GmbH and the foreign subsidiaries are currently not part of the filing.

"The objective is to save the company and therefore a large part of the branch network and the jobs," stated the company. The Schlecker family intends to continue running the company. The majority of the publicized opinions of sector experts and competitors, however, suggest that this option is considered rather unlikely at the present time. The local court must now decide whether the requirements for opening the insolvency proceedings are met and in what form they will be carried out.

Schlecker also announced that the representatives of labour unions such as Ver.di had already been deeply involved in the restructuring planning before Christmas. "There is a consensus that the company should be kept whole to the greatest extent possible, saving as many jobs as is feasible. As was already announced on Friday, business is carrying on as usual and the payment of employee wages is also guaranteed within the scope of compensation in the case of insolvency."

Stefanie Nutzernberger, member of Verdis Federal Executive Board, stated that it would be important "that the Schlecker family does all in its power to ensure the continuation of the company and to save jobs."

However, in order to enable unrestricted continuation of business operations, interim administrator Arndt Geiwitz will have to come to an agreement between suppliers, creditors, management and the Schlecker family as quickly as possible. Experts consider the question of the suppliers as critical, since generating sales is impossible without products.

Media reports indicate that sales in Europe fell by 650 million euros to 6.55 billion in the financial year 2010. The company has traditionally refused to make any announcements about profits and losses in Europe. Schlecker has more than 40,000 employees throughout Europe, 30,000 of which work in Germany. In recent times, the company had 7,000 stores in Germany and about 3,000 more abroad. Rossmann and dm are operating just over 2,000 stores each. The number two in the market, "dm", reported European sales of over six billion euros for the first time in the financial year 2010/2011; sales growth in Germany was around 10.1%.