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Despite the insolvency proceedings, the business is still fully open. © Hermann Weingartner
Dorfen’s electronics company is in trouble. Managing director Tremmel had to act, but is hoping for solutions.
Dorfen – A tsunami of bankruptcies is currently sweeping the entire country. Large companies with decades of tradition are affected, as are medium-sized and smaller companies. Dorfen’s electronics specialist company Technikwerker – Der Heuschneider has now also been hit. It had to file for bankruptcy under the brand Technikwerker GmbH. This was what managing director Stefan Tremmel said in an interview with the local newspaper. The process is already underway.
On August 9, the Landshut District Court ordered the provisional insolvency administration of his company and appointed Daniel Barth from PLUTA-Rechtsanwalt GmbH as the provisional insolvency administrator, said Tremmel. Solutions are being worked on. They are optimistic, but the outcome is still open.
The downward spiral began with Corona
The difficult environment and the current situation are also putting a heavy personal burden on the Dorfen entrepreneur, who has always put enormous passion and commitment into his business. The electronics store on the B15 has been there since 2012. After insolvency proceedings in 2017 under “personal responsibility”, a successful new start with Technikwerker GmbH was achieved – until Corona came along.
Corona loans helped, but they also have to be serviced. Now, despite the greatest efforts and cost-cutting measures throughout the company and the support of the “great team of employees,” says Tremmel, the step into insolvency was unavoidable.
“The problem was the shop. I had to draw a line under it, otherwise I would have committed a criminal offense,” stresses Tremmel. What is important to him now is “that the business operations, including the shop, continue in full and that the salaries of the 25 employees are secured through insolvency money.” A final decision on whether and how things will continue will be made at the end of the insolvency proceedings at the beginning of October.
The 48-year-old hopes that a solution and concept will be found by then so that his company has a future. The insolvency administrator is also working hard on this. In a press release, Barth writes: “We will examine all restructuring options. The aim is to preserve the company. We are looking for an investor who wants to get into the company.”
But Tremmel also assures that he and the employees, “who all support the company,” are feverishly considering how to find a way out of the situation. It is conceivable, for example, that a solution with a smaller team and high level of expertise without a shop and while retaining the workshop and service could be the turning point. The staff have been informed for some time.
The Dorfen resident commented in detail on the insolvency, saying that the situation did not arise overnight and was foreseeable. He should perhaps have reacted a little earlier in the retail sector, but not least out of responsibility as an employer he postponed this decision in the hope of improvement. He hoped in vain for an economic upturn.
And then came the war in Ukraine, with consequences such as exploding energy prices, sharply increased interest rates, high inflation, a decline in customer frequency and reluctance to buy in retail. An economic recovery in retail is not in sight, says Tremmel. Until recently, the service and workshop business areas as well as corporate customers had been doing very well and profitably. The subsidy from the profitable business areas “for the store for about a year now has simply not been sustainable anymore.”
Withdrawal from the support group
Due to the difficult economic conditions for his company over the past few months, with significant losses in the store, he, as managing director, had no alternative but to file for preliminary insolvency proceedings, which was mandatory under legal requirements. He had always wanted to do something for the town with his specialist shop, the entrepreneur assured, “because for decades it had been a common wish of the citizens and the town council that Dorfen also had a larger electronics specialist shop on site.” For Dorfen, the closure would be a great loss, as the business also operates as a local supplier.
Another loss in the town is already certain: Tremmel has announced that he will resign from his position as long-standing chairman of the Dorfen support group. In the wake of “these difficult times, I now need all my energy for the situation.” However, he assures that an orderly transition for a successor will be found.
