Admin l Saturday, March 04, 2023
BERLIN – German fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg (P&C) has filed for insolvency protection proceedings with the Dusseldorf District Court, it said on Friday, citing the difficult market situation.
The management filed the application on Friday in order to accelerate the restructuring process that has already been initiated, the company said.
However, all of its 67 retail outlets and online stores remained open.
P&C will use the proceedings to adapt to the changed market conditions in Germany and reposition itself for the future, the company said. It is not planning to close any shops under its current plans, the retailer said.
The protection proceedings are a court-ordered procedure to let a company develop targeted restructuring and turnaround measures, under its own steam and implement them in the near future, under the supervision of a court-appointed provisional administrator.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to a massive drop in sales at Dusseldorf-based Peek & Cloppenburg in 2020 and 2021, the company said.
“The impact hit us hard” and caused losses in the hundreds of millions, said Steffen Schüller, who has led the company since June 2022.
He also said shoppers were being highly cautious and cited the war on Ukraine, supply bottlenecks, increased costs, rising interest rates and the slight recession as all impacting the company’s situation towards the end of last year.
