On Thursday, the fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy at the Salzburg Regional Court. There are no plans to continue the business in Austria. After 29 years, the remaining stores are to sell off their goods and then close, with 170 employees being affected.
Since the beginning of the year, the Austrian Esprit subsidiary has suffered an operating loss of 4.9 million euros on sales of 8.9 million euros. The reason for the sharp drop in sales was serious planning errors within the Group. Collection, distribution and sales as well as the administration of the Austrian subsidiary were more or less entirely centrally controlled.
If the the management’s request regarding the insolvency proceedings are to be followed, the remaining stock is to be sold off, the stores are to be closed, the rental agreements terminated and the company liquidated.
