Edcon chief confirms plans to decentralise
South African retailer Edcon confirmed to Fin24 on Sunday that the company’s stakeholders, including suppliers and landlords are currently discussing the company’s continued recapitalization programme.
The group includes 3 companies Edgars, CNA and Jet. It was reported on Sunday Times on Sunday that Edcon is “on the brink of collapse” which could result with 140 000 people losing their jobs.
“Edcon’s balance sheet recovery programme has been underway for some time as we continue to focus on completing a recapitalisation of Edcon,” group CEO Grant Pattison said on Sunday.
“Part of the process is the continuing discussions with various stakeholders, which include suppliers, lenders, landlords, potential new investors, and others, as we explore and discuss various options,” said Pattison.
He said the discussions are about to be wrapped up and “significant progress is being made, with all stakeholders indicating their support and strong commitment to the process”.
Pattison also said that the company is now close to announcing a complete recapitalisation “that should endure for the next few years”.
According to Pattison the company is taking to consideration various options presented by all stakeholders with certain owners and landlords regarding Edcon’s rent-reduction proposal.
“This, and other elements of a proposed agreement are in the final stages of resolution and no further commentary can be added at this stage,” he said.
Pattison commented on the article in the Sunday Times on Sunday saying parts of the article as well as the headline are “unfortunately speculative and misleading”.
“Edcon has not ‘crashed’ and the group has actually seen good sales during the run-up to the festive season. Edcon had a great sales day on Saturday with sales up on last year,” he said.
In April Fin24 reported Pattison as saying that in the past the company has been very centralised and it tried to decentralised.
Photo credit – Mark Lives
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