Takko Fashion: Talks about a federal state guarantee have de facto failed

The most recent lockdown has driven the healthy company into an economically extreme situation and has cost the company ten million euros per week.

Karl-Heinz Holland, Head of the Advisory Board and interim CEO of Takko Fashion: “I am more than disappointed that the state of North Rhine-Westphalia does not support us in this situation that we have ended up in through no fault of our own. During the second lockdown alone, we lost almost 130 million euros in liquid funds. The guarantee would have given us, as a profitable company, air to breathe again, so we could have covered our operating costs in the short term. We were not asking for more than that.”

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal government had tasked auditing company PwC with reviewing Takko Fashion’s application for the guarantee. However, the conditions imposed by PwC for the guarantee cannot be fulfilled, even after extensive negotiations with banks, investors, and partners – who were willing to do the maximum of what could be realized. Takko Fashion is therefore forced to look for other possibilities in order to secure the company and its almost 18,000 employees – including more than 14,000 in Germany alone.

Karl-Heinz Holland: “Over the past few years, we have implemented a successful course for growth. Due to the retail opening perspective that has been decided, we are optimistic that we can continue this course in the medium term again. For this reason, I am confident that we will manage to find a sustainable solution – not least because of our great, dedicated, and highly motivated employees, who will support us in these efforts. We are looking forward to welcoming our customers in our stores again – be it in regular customer interaction with hygiene measures and customer frequency limitations, or per Click and Meet.”

Takko Fashion was founded in 1982. With its more than 1,900 branches in 17 countries and almost 18,000 employees overall, Takko Fashion is one of the most successful fashion discounters in Europe. As a “smart discounter”, the company offers quality- and price-conscious fashion for every day – online and in stationary retail. Prior to the corona crisis, 2019 was Takko Fashion’s economically most successful business year for ten years.