Image: GEORG HOCHMUTH (APA)
The holding company’s loss in the previous year amounted to around 505 million euros, reports the news magazine “News” in its current issue, with reference to the 2022 annual financial statements, which have not yet been published. Signa did not initially respond to a written APA request. According to the magazine report, liabilities rose from 634 million euros to 1.996 billion euros.
Sports division insolvent
In the 2021 financial year, the holding company reported an annual profit of 570 million euros. Last week, Signa Holding withdrew a promised capital injection of 150 million euros for Signa Sports United (SSU). Shortly afterwards, SSU had to announce that it and several subsidiaries were facing bankruptcy filings. SSU includes the retailers Tennis-Point, WiggleCRC, Fahrrad.de and Bikester, among others. With 80 online shops, Signa Sports United achieved sales of over 1 billion euros in 2022, but also high losses in the millions. The German SSU subsidiaries Tennis Point and internetstores GmbH (fahrrad.de) have already filed for insolvency.
- Article on the topic: Benko’s sporting goods retailer Signa Sports in distress
The German restructuring expert Arndt Geiwitz has recently started advising Signa Holding. A spokesman said on Monday that Geiwitz received a corresponding order a few days ago. In June, the Signa Group sold the operational Kika/Leiner business to the Austrian trade manager and investor Hermann Wieser and the furniture store properties to the Graz Supernova Group. Shortly after the sale, the local furniture chain filed for bankruptcy. With further real estate sales and a cash injection from existing investors, Signa Holding has secured liquid assets in recent months.
Complex structures
Signa Holding is an investment holding company that is active in the real estate, retail (Galeria Kaufhof, KaDeWe, Signa Sports United) and media (minority shares in Krone and Kurier) business areas. The investment structures are complex and there are no consolidated financial statements for the group of companies. As a shareholder, Signa Holding holds almost 20 percent of the real estate flagship Signa Prime Selection as well as almost 9 percent of Signa Development AG and as a shareholder in over 30 other investments. According to the commercial register (“Wirtschafts-Compass”), 77.5 percent of Signa Holding is directly and indirectly owned by private foundations around Benko. The Haselsteiner family private foundation holds 15 percent of the holding shares and Fressnapf Luxembourg around 4.5 percent and the Swiss manager Ernst Tanner around 3 percent.
One billion euros net loss
The annual financial statements of Signa Prime Selection AG for 2022 have now also been disclosed in the commercial register – via the minutes of the general meeting on July 13, 2023. As already reported, the company recorded a net loss of over one billion euros due to high devaluations on the real estate business , after an increase of 732 million in 2021. The billion-dollar devaluations were justified by the difficult market environment.
- Also read: Benkos Signa: Between the open day and a loss of billions
According to a current “manager magazin” report, some of Signa’s backers, including Fressnapf founder Torsten Töller, freight forwarder Klaus-Michael Kühne and well-known management consultant Roland Berger, have the contractual right to convert their shares into cash.
- More on the subject: The carefully divided world of Rene Benko
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