Freiburg bookbindery Schumacher files for bankruptcy
The Schumacher Bookbinding Company has filed for bankruptcy due to «insurmountable financial and economic difficulties.» About 40 employees are affected. Three years ago, the company was rescued by a group of investors who injected fresh capital.
After losing its largest indirect customer last fall, the company from Schmitten FR saw its sales plummet by almost a quarter, as Gilles Gautier, Chairman of the Board of Directors, told the newspaper La Liberté said. The company has been struggling with digitalization and competition for years.
Without revealing the identity of the customer, Gautier explained that the customer was planning a paperless future for environmental reasons. The majority of Schumacher's orders come from the watch and household appliance industry.
The bankruptcy will lead to the loss of 35 full-time equivalent jobs, without a redundancy plan, as there are insufficient financial resources available, the statement continued. The company was founded in Bern in 1840 and settled in Schmitten in 1969. (SDA)
