The “Manager Magazin” reports “disastrous figures for 2021” at René Benko’s department store group in Germany.
In September 2018, after several attempts, René Benko seemed to have achieved the goal of his German department store dreams: he also took over the Galeria and Kaufhof with Signa, merged them with Karstadt and was celebrated by the Handelsblatt as “Europe’s department store king”.
Less than four years later, the department store juggler with Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof lands on the hard ground of retail reality: “Manager Magazin” is currently reporting on “disastrous figures for 2021”, which are already available internally. According to internal documents, high losses are also expected for 2022.
“Desolate”: annual deficit of 622 million
Specifically, the magazine article says: “The figures for the past fiscal year 2020/21 (until September 30), which so far have only been communicated internally, show how desolate the department store chain is: according to this Galeria generated turnover of 2.1 billion euros and a net loss for the year of EUR 622 million.”
Only with the help of the German state, which would have allocated more than 200 million euros as a silent participation in early 2022, could “worse” be prevented.
According to internal documents available to “Manager Magazin”, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof has to adjust to a dark red balance sheet in the current fiscal year: the company therefore expects “a loss in the range of low to mid-three-digit million – with the corresponding effects on the own capacity.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
