The company develops and produces customised advertising displays and packaging for product presentations at the point of sale.
The business operations of the Braunschweig-based display manufacturer pod GmbH will continue in full even during the provisional insolvency proceedings. This is the assurance given by the provisional insolvency administrator appointed by the local court, commercial lawyer Tobias Hartwig from the Braunschweig branch of the law firm Schultze & Braun, which specialises in corporate reorganisations and restructurings. „All existing orders are being produced and delivered as agreed, and new orders can be placed at any time,“ says Hartwig. Together with his team, the provisional insolvency administrator is gaining an overview of the company's economic situation on site and examining restructuring options.
Traditional family business
The traditional company was founded in 1907 as an arts and crafts studio and, with almost 120 years of company history, is the oldest manufacturer of promotional products in Braunschweig. The company is still family-owned. pod GmbH develops and produces customised advertising displays and packaging for product presentations at the point of sale - for example in shop windows or in shops. The displays can be purely promotional in nature, but can also carry goods and take a wide variety of forms. Such displays are used in particular in food retail, drugstores and pharmacies as well as in bookshops.
Develop a reorganisation concept
The provisional insolvency administrator and the management informed the 32 employees about the proceedings and the next steps at a staff meeting. Their wages and salaries are secured until the end of July thanks to the insolvency substitute benefits. In the coming weeks, Hartwig will take a detailed look at the situation and work out a reorganisation concept together with the management. The aim is to make the company fit for the future and save as many jobs as possible.
It would be possible for an investor to take a stake in the existing company, for a group of companies to take over pod or for the company to reorganise itself by means of an insolvency plan.
„All options are on the table. We will start a targeted search for potential interested parties in the coming days. This is a process that is open to all serious investors. The aim is to press ahead with talks with interested parties quickly and purposefully and ideally finalise them before the end of the summer.“
Tobias Hartwig
The cause of the economic difficulties is a continuous decline in sales in recent years. „Our family business is clearly feeling the effects of our customers“ increasing reluctance to advertise. The various crises of the recent past, such as the pandemic, the effects of the war in Ukraine and the prices of energy and raw materials, the shortage of skilled labour and the unpredictable future economic development are leading many companies to become increasingly cautious. They are therefore putting the brakes on their advertising expenditure, which is leaving its mark on pod GmbH," reports Managing Director Maike Bethmann-Dreyer. „As no improvement can be expected on the market in the short term, we have decided to file for insolvency due to the threat of insolvency.“
„The fact that the management decided to file for insolvency at a very early stage not only speaks for the foresight that has allowed the family business to grow, but also makes us confident that we have a good chance of achieving our goal of preserving the company and as many jobs as possible. The earlier an insolvency application is filed, the better the chances of a reorganisation,“ says provisional insolvency administrator Tobias Hartwig.
With 32 employees, pod GmbH generates a turnover of around four million euros a year.
Source: Schultze & Braun
