Enlarge image
Photo: Tamina-Florentine Zuch for manager magazin
When the Chinese financial investor Fosun joined the troubled Bregenz stocking specialist Wolford in 2018, the story line was clear.
In 2021, the turning point should be achieved.
"We got the ship going again after ten years of declining results," explains
Andrew Thorndike
(55), board member who was hired in 2019, looking back on the line.
Junyang Shao
(41), the chairman of the supervisory board delegated by Fosun,
outlined a golden future at the time.
She wants, Wolford included, to build the LVMH of the fashion industry, the valuation should reach at least one billion euros.
So far, Shao and Thorndike have not achieved their goals.
After ten disastrous years in a row, the turning point is still not in sight.
And it is questionable whether the investor and her central manager will ever make it.
On April 29, Wolford actually wanted to present the figures for 2021: and thus provide evidence that Wolford is making money again.
But the auditors, in this case Ernst & Young (EY), saw things differently.
At the end of April, Wolford announced that the publication of the audited annual financial statements would be postponed to May 25: "The auditor has announced that the planned date cannot be met because the audit documents have not been received in good time."
Five days before this deadline then the next ad hoc: The audited annual financial statements should now only be available on June 17th.
to be published.
And: "The forecast of a positive EBIT that has been issued so far will not be maintained," reports Wolford.
A positive Ebitda is still expected for the 2021 financial year.
According to Thorndike, the shifts are just a matter of voting.
The company reports that it is about reassessing future risks, in particular as a result of inflation, corona and war in Ukraine.
The examiners had been skeptical in the past.
In the annual report for 2020, they pointed to "material uncertainties regarding the going concern".
There was no improvement in sight in 2021, at least until the summer.
For the first half of the year, Wolford reported a double-digit drop in sales and an operating loss of EUR 15 million.
Fosun's big plans may also be called into question.
The financial investor has included the luxury brand St. John Knits, which specializes in knitwear, and the men's outfitter Caruso in its fashion portfolio and wants to list it on the stock exchange in New York via Spac under the name Lanvin Group.
According to the story, the shareholders' money should finance further growth.
In Bregenz, the entry of the main Chinese investor has apparently hardly improved the situation so far.
Shao minds though;
Insiders report that the supervisory board member likes to come to the company headquarters on Lake Constance.
She has a say in personnel decisions and also contributes her design ideas, says one of those involved.
"But just because you wear clothes yourself doesn't make you an expert."
Regarding the allegations, Wolford explains that Shao is "of course present at the supervisory board and committee meetings" and agrees "with C-1 appointments (directors)".
However, the company denies that the head of the supervisory board is also involved in other personnel decisions.
"We are happy to invite the supervisory board to presentations of the collection, where everyone can articulate their impressions," says Wolford.
The positions of ex-CEO
Axel Dreher
(57) and ex-CFO
Brigitte Kurz
(48), both of whom left in 2019 before the end of their contract, are still vacant almost two years later.
At least COO Thorndike defends his chief controller that there is an intensive exchange with the supervisory board and the chairwoman.
The postponement of the annual financial statements, Thorndike is relaxed for the time being, is simply a question of voting.
Other sources are not so relaxed, they do not believe in a sustainable turnaround.
Junyang Shao is said to have said at the beginning of the Fosun period that she herself did not know whether her plans would work out.
"She said it was gambling," recalls one of those involved at the time.
Today Shao doesn't want to hear about it anymore.
Maybe she'll be smarter in mid-June, if the numbers are actually presented then.