The owner of Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group (EWM) has only days to convince administrators not to seize control, with 21,000 jobs in 1,100 stores at risk
Mr Day, who founded the company nearly two decades ago and built it up via acquisitions of brands including Ponden Home, Peacocks and Jaeger, is working on complicated rescue proposals at his home in Switzerland.
However, with grim prospects for parts of the business, thousands of job losses are expected as soon as this week.
The self-made Cumbrian has concluded that banks will not lend to EWM in its current state. Credit insurers have withdrawn cover, meaning it is effectively unable to trade.
The really important part is those credit insurers. And the way he tried to fuck over the Bangladeshi factories does make him a higher risk. Oh dear, how sad.
Never mind?
“and built it up via acquisitions”
Translation: he loaded it up with debt. Hardly surprising that there’s no resilience when trouble hits. It’s a feature of the system, not a bug.
If it was built via aquisitions, then just de-aquisition it and the jobs will be safe, they’ll just not be Edinburgh Wollen Mill jobs.
. . . is working on complicated rescue proposals at his home in Switzerland.
Shall we work on complicated rescue proposals today or go boating on the lake?
You remind me, PJF, of a pending strike at our factory in Richmond. Gamecock, a professional, had been assigned a machine operators job, should the union actually go out. He had been a line supervisor in the area, so it should have been pretty easy. Boring, in fact.
The Union said they’d begin negotiations at 12:00 AM on Monday, the first day of the strike. Management said, “Nah. We’ll meet with you from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Union was stunned. And backed down.
Well Tim regardless of the shenanigans of the owner, it’s probably not much of a laugh for the people who stand to lose their livelihoods as a result.