As of: March 28, 2024, 4:47 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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The wave of bankruptcies continues to roll through the country; many companies have run into difficulties as a result of past crises. Now an industry heavyweight in Lower Saxony is filing for bankruptcy.
Northeim - The past few years have been extremely difficult for many companies: first the pandemic, then the upheavals caused by the war in Ukraine, especially the slump in consumption and the energy crisis, have left many companies in difficulties. This is the case again with a company from Northeim in Lower Saxony that has existed since 1932: Breckle Polsterbetten GmbH filed for bankruptcy on Monday (March 25th). The court in Göttingen has appointed the lawyer Rainer Eckert as insolvency administrator.
Breckle is insolvent: 350 employees affected
According to its own information, the company is one of the “most important mattress and upholstered bed manufacturers in Europe,” as it says on its website. A few years ago, the company built a new production hall in Northeim for 22 million euros, and since then the medium-sized town in Lower Saxony has been the company's headquarters. Breckle employs 350 people at the site and, according to
Wirtschaftswoche,
produces up to 3,000 beds and slatted frames every day. According to the newspaper, the affected employees were informed of the bankruptcy on Monday evening.
Breckle has been making mattresses since 1932. © Christin Klose/dpa-tmn
The insolvency administrator Rainer Eckert is now expected to begin the search for an investor in order to preserve the plant and the jobs. Bed manufacturers of the same name in Thuringia are not affected by the insolvency; BreckleMattzenwerk Weida GmbH operates legally independently. Other Breckle companies, such as one in Benningen and another in Seelbach, are also not affected by the bankruptcy, as Wirtschaftswoche
further
reports.
Traffic light government wants to stabilize the economy
Bankruptcies have been increasing in the country for a year. Energy crisis, pandemic, inflation – the crises of recent years have particularly affected small and medium-sized companies. Experts expect high numbers of insolvencies to continue in 2024 before the situation stabilizes again. The battered construction and real estate industries as well as companies in the healthcare sector are particularly affected. Due to consumer restraint due to inflation, more and more retail companies are being hit by the wave of bankruptcies.
In order to stabilize the country's economy and help companies, the federal government wants to present a new plan in the summer. Last week the Growth Opportunities Act was also passed, which primarily provides tax relief for companies.