Steg Electronics Faces Bankruptcy Due to Cancellation of Credit Limits

Apparently the cancellation of credit limits has caused liquidity bottlenecks for the company, which, in addition to Steg Electronics, also owns the online shops PC-Ostschweiz.ch and Techmania. A total of around 130 jobs are at risk of bankruptcy in the branches, at the company headquarters in Schaffhausen and at an associated logistics company. 80 of these positions are in Switzerland, the rest in Germany and Slovakia.

As the PCP Group writes, until a few months ago everything at the company was going according to plan and a positive annual result was expected. This is also indicated by the opening of several new branches this year.

According to PCP, a credit insurance company canceled credit limits worth millions without prior notice. And in August the entire limit of seven million francs was finally dissolved. For company founder Lorenz Weber, this step is incomprehensible, especially given its short-term nature, since in the event of bankruptcy the interests of the credit insurance company itself would also be at risk, as the media release on Friday shows.

Apparently, the discussions with banks, competitors and possible investors, with whom options for securing liquidity and continuing operations have been sought in recent weeks, have not led to any success. As a result, the company will deposit its balance sheet in the next few days.

Demand advance payments from the credit card company

On the Steg Electronics website, customers were informed on Friday afternoon that open orders could no longer be fulfilled. It goes on to say that advance payments that have already been made cannot be repaid, but customers can at most request them back from the payment provider.

Finally, warranty claims on purchased devices remain, but would have to be processed directly through the manufacturer.

Steg Electronics is the best-known brand of the PCP Group. The company was originally founded in 1994 in the canton of Lucerne. The company continued to expand over the years before being acquired by PCP.com in 2014 was acquired. PCP.com was founded in 1998 as a PC shop Schaffhausen, but after a short time focused on online trading.

Current figures on the company’s sales and profitability have never been published in recent years. However, there has recently been talk in the specialist media of an annual turnover of over 100 million francs. (awp/sda/cbe)