Business News

Efforts to rescue schlott gruppe as a going concern

Thursday 20. January 2011 - schlott gruppe AG, together with all eleven German subsidiaries, has filed for insolvency.

The competent District Court has appointed the Nuremberg-based lawyer Siegfried Beck as the provisional insolvency administrator for all of the entities involved. Working in collaboration with the Management Board, Beck aims to continue the Group’s full business operations within the context of preliminary insolvency proceedings. All wages and salaries for the domestic workforce of around 1,500 employees are guaranteed for a period of three months from funds available under Germany’s statutory insolvency provisions.
Nuremberg, 19 January 2011 – The insolvency administrator and Management Board intend to rescue schlott gruppe by means of an insolvency plan or the sale of the company to an investor. The objective is to retain as many jobs as possible. “schlott gruppe has established a good position within the market and, on the whole, remains competitive,” said the provisional insolvency administrator when asked to comment on the current situation. “The insolvency proceedings now initiated by the company provide an opportunity for a fundamental restructuring of the Group.” Beck and his team are currently in the process of analysing the situation in the respective companies.
The insolvency administrator and Management Board have been in close dialogue with key customers and suppliers for the purpose of safeguarding the continuation of business operations. Additionally, Beck will today inform the workforce about the Group’s position and the next steps to be taken.
schlott gruppe is one of the leading service providers within the European printing industry. The focus of its business is on large-volume printing for customers operating within the publishing and mail-order sector as well as advertisers. Thus, the emphasis is on magazines, advertising supplements and catalogues. Owing to the substantial market pressure exerted on prices in recent years, schlott gruppe has been faced with financial difficulties. Finally, on Tuesday, 18 January 2011, it was forced to submit an application for the commencement of insolvency proceedings.
“We deeply regret the need for insolvency proceedings, but also see this route as a tangible opportunity to restructure and rescue the Group for the long term,” said Bernd Rose, CEO of schlott gruppe AG. “Our thanks go out to our customers, suppliers and staff for their continued support in these difficult times.
The following entities have filed for insolvency: schlott gruppe AG (Freudenstadt/Nuremberg, approx. 75 employees), u.e. sebald Druck GmbH (Nuremberg, approx. 290 employees), D.V.N Druckverarbeitung Nürnberg GmbH (Nuremberg, approx. 190 employees), media2print GmbH (Nuremberg, approx. 50 employees), sebaldus GmbH (Nuremberg, approx. 25 employees), schlott GmbH (Freudenstadt, approx. 280 employees), schlott logistik GmbH (Hamburg, approx. 25 employees), broschek service GmbH (Hamburg, approx. 50 employees), broschek tiefdruck GmbH (Hamburg, approx. 160 employees), wwk druck GmbH (Landau, approx. 135 employees), schlott Vertrieb GmbH (Landau, approx. 70 employees) and broschek rollenoffset GmbH (Lübeck, approx. 130 employees).
The insolvency proceedings will initially not affect the foreign entities reus S.R.O. (Pilsen, Czech Republic; approx. 270 employees) and hollmann S.A. (Hambach, France; approx. 130 employees). As regards biegelaar B.V. (Netherlands; approx. 190 employees) and media2print B.V. (Netherlands), the provisions regarding a mandatory insolvency application are currently being reviewed.