Image: colourbox
Ahlers AG from Herford and seven of its subsidiaries with a total of 400 employees filed for bankruptcy at the Bielefeld District Court on Monday. Ahlers has a total of 1,700 employees. The business has recently developed weakly, so that there is a risk of insolvency, CEO Stella Ahlers justified the bankruptcy application.
Negotiations about the further financing of the group failed, Ahlers. The company, known for brands such as Baldessarini, Pierre Cardin and Otto Kern, has been making losses for years and has been trying to make savings for a long time. “The successes achieved were destroyed by the current market environment,” said Ahlers, whose family holds almost 53 percent of the shares. A few days ago, Gerry Weber AG, which specializes in women’s fashion, took refuge in pre-insolvency restructuring proceedings and filed for bankruptcy for the German retail subsidiary.
Vicious circle in the fashion industry
The fashion industry in Germany is stuck in a vicious circle: customers are holding back – because of the changed shopping habits in the corona pandemic and the high inflation. Numerous retail chains such as Galeria Karstadt and Peek & Cloppenburg (P&C) have themselves filed for bankruptcy. Stella Ahlers explained, however, that Ahlers’ strong brands, core competencies and efficient organization make her confident “with an eye on future options” for the company.
In the 2021/22 financial year (as of the end of November), Ahlers’ sales increased by a fifth to EUR 170.9 million, but were below their own expectations. Before the pandemic, it was 207 million. The loss before taxes was most recently EUR 8.7 (2020/21: 9.1) million and thus did not fall as much as hoped.
more from economy
