After being in difficult financial situations before (see our story from 2011) this time, the Alno Group may have reached the end of the line… Reported by Teleboerse, Alno AG is unable to pay back their €28,500,000. depth to the banks, on July 12th, the Alno Group was forced into a liquidation process.
For years, the kitchen manufacturer Alno has been struggling with problems – now the company goes into insolvency. Alno AG will apply for insolvency proceedings in self-administration on account of the insolvency of the company, said the company, based in Pfullendorf in Baden-Württemberg. The Board decided to take this step, because negotiations with potential investors and creditors “could not reach an agreement at last,” a communication said.
Since the exchange in 1995, Alno has suffered losses every year, with only a few exceptions. In the first half of 2016, according to the company, these pretax taxes amounted to 28.5 million euros. It was only at the end of June that the company postponed the publication of its balance sheet for the entire fiscal year 2016 for the third time. Sales in the first five months of 2017 fell by 6.8 percent compared to the previous year.
After the announcement of the insolvency, the Alno stock fell by more than 50 percent to just under 0.14 cents on Wednesday morning and thus cost less than ever before. Alno has also issued a € 45 million SME loan, which will be due in 2018. The Protection Association of Capital Investors (SdK) expects investors to lose money as well. It is to be expected that bond creditors will be required to contribute to the financial rehabilitation of the company.
The restructuring program is to be continued
At the end of May, the group had surprisingly announced a change of boss: The previous Chief Executive Officer Christian Brenner – a representative of Alno’s major shareholder Tahoe Investors, behind which the Bosnian entrepreneur family Hastor stands – followed the previous CEO Max Müller.
The entrepreneur’s family, which caused headlines with the failed power takeover of the Bavarian car supplier Grammer, had taken over the scepter at the highly indebted company several months ago. The manufacturer had since then taken a new austerity plan and announced that the loss of 350 jobs in the administration would save millions. Over the past few years, the company has had several vacancies. How many are up to date, was initially unclear.
The restructuring plan, which was initiated at the beginning of the year, should now be continued within the framework of insolvency proceedings under the management of the existing Management Board, the company said. The competent District Court of Hechingen was initially unable to reach an opinion.
The subsidiaries Gustav Wellmann GmbH & Co. KG and Alno Logistik & Service GmbH would also be included in the insolvency application. All other domestic and foreign subsidiaries, including Pino Küchen GmbH, are not affected by this. The business continued to run unchanged.
The company was founded in 1927 in the workshop of carpenter Albert Nothdurft. Over the next 30 years, the company grew consistently and eventually moved to Pfullendorf, where it is still based today. In 1958 ALNO Möbelwerke GmbH + Co KG was officially founded. In the following decades the company achieved international recognition for its kitchens. In 1995 ALNO became a public limited company and one of Europe’s market leaders. Over 750 employees based at Pfullendorf ALNO factory.
According to ALNO AG press releases, which you can read here, the application and grant for insolvency has to do with formally restructuring the company. This is part of a program of restructure started at the turn of 2017. The restructuring will not affect manufacture and supply of kitchens which continues, and the company is expected to persist as a leading supplier of kitchens.