One more name on the long list of companies struggling during a pandemic.
Office Depot France, which specializes in office supplies, announced on Friday its placement in receivership, a consequence of the Covid-19 crisis which hampered its transformation plan and generated "substantial financing needs".
“At the end of a hearing at the Lille-Métropole Commercial Court and at the request of the company, Office Depot France announces that it has been placed in receivership in order to face the major difficulties linked in particular to the crisis. Covid-19, which directly impacted the transformation plan undertaken by the new management upon its arrival in March 2019 ”, explains the company in a press release.
It employs some 1,750 people in France.
This transformation plan, which should allow the company to raise its head after difficulties in recent years, aimed to return to profitability in 2021 and "began to produce its effects when the health and economic crisis intervened", assures Office Depot France.
"Bringing out solutions"
"This unprecedented crisis marked a halt in the deployment of this transformation plan, generating a significant financing requirement", explains the company, which says it suffered a drop in turnover of nearly 20%. in 2020 with the effect of increasing its economic difficulties.
This judicial reorganization "will allow management, with the support of the procedural bodies, to continue operating the business, to give itself time to bring out all solutions likely to sustain its activities but also to accelerate the completion of its transformation plan, ”the press release continued.
Specializing in office equipment and supplies, Office Depot France currently operates 60 stores, e-commerce sites as well as an integrated logistics center with three warehouses and 22 distribution platforms, according to figures given in the press release.
