The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Retail Retail Trade, Except Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles Retail Sale Of Other Household Equipment In Specialised Stores 47.5 - Retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores
830 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
22 September 2018
Employment effect (start)
16 August 2018
Foreseen end date
31 December 2018
Description
The furniture and household appliances retail chain Kika/Leiner will cut 830 jobs all over Austria by the end of 2019. The financially struggling company was bought by the SIGNA Group in June 2019 for €600 million and now has to implement restructuring measures to prevent bankruptcy. In 2013, Kika and Leiner were taken over by the South African Steinhoff group, but critics claim the group failed to develop a strategy for the cooperation of both companies.
By the end of 2019, 4 out of 46 sites will be permanently closed (Innsbruck, Wiener Neustadt, Vösendorf, Spittal an der Drau). In August 2018, Kika/Leiner registered 1,154 employees with the public employment service (AMS). In September 2018, the company announced that eventually only 830 employees, who have already been informed, will be made redundant.
The first dismissals will take place over the next six weeks, the majority of job reductions will follow by the end of this year or early 2019.
As of September 2018, Kika/Leiner has 5,100 employees in Austria. The restructuring plan has already been approved by management and trade union representatives, negotations on a social plan are currently under way.
Sources
Citation
Eurofound (2018), Kika, Bankruptcy in Austria, factsheet number 94758, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/94758.
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