Fight for survival

The operating business of the German sub-group Karlie Flamingo is unaffected by this and will continue to operate without restrictions, stressed the Karlie Group. The objective is to secure the business operations of Karlie Flamingo in the long term in close cooperation with financing partners. According to a press release, the company intends to seek a long-term partner "to continue the positive operating development of Karlie Flamingo GmbH". 
After the Belgian subsidiary Karlie Flamingo Belgium Holding filed for insolvency a month ago, industry experts expected that it would be only a matter of time before the group filed for insolvency. Karlie Flamingo Belgium Holding filed for insolvency on account of over-indebtedness in mid-October. This was followed by the closure of the logistics centre in Geel at the end of October. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the employees were laid off. 
An application for insolvency for two companies constituting the operational Belgian arm of the Karlie group of companies initially set the ball rolling: two creditor banks called in outstanding claims against Karlie Flamingo N.V. and Garpet N.V., which operates as a sub-holding of the Belgian operating arm. One of the two managing directors of Karlie Flamingo Belgium Holding then filed an application to open insolvency proceedings for this subsidiary. Having said originally that this application was premature, the second managing director and the advisers to the issuer subsequently indicated that they would not oppose it, according to reports.

In this turbulent period, the news also broke that Karlie Group GmbH had sold its stake in Sharples & Grant Ltd. No details were released of the sale price or the buyer. The British company, whose annual sales were a few million €, has reportedly been in the red since 2013. A write-down of 2.04 mio € resulted from the sale, although according to Dominik Müser, Karlie Group CEO, the sale of Sharples & Grant has had no influence on the operational business, as this company operated entirely autonomously under another brand. 

In spite of this unfavourable development, Müser expressed confidence that "we will emerge from this phase stronger". The CEO based his optimism on the…