HALLE/WESTFALEN (dpa-AFX) - Troubled clothing manufacturer Gerry Weber plans to close a large number of its stores in Germany in the coming months. A total of 122 of the 171 stores and outlets it currently still owns are to be closed by the end of September this year as part of its restructuring efforts, the company announced on Monday. This will also mean the loss of around 350 full-time jobs. Another 75 jobs are to be cut in the central departments in Halle (Westphalia).

In the future, the fashion manufacturer will again focus more on the wholesale business and thus return to its roots, said company CEO Angelika Schindler-Obenhaus. In the store business, she said, the company will limit itself to the healthy core and close all loss-making locations in Germany. The course adopted more than 10 years ago of opening more and more of its own stores had not proved to be in line with the market and sustainable. A reconciliation of interests and a social plan have already been agreed with the works council for the job cuts.

Stefan Meyer, the restructuring expert appointed by the Essen District Court in the course of the proceedings, emphasized that the course now adopted was "without alternative in order to protect the core of Gerry Weber that is worth preserving and to position the Group in the market for the future in a robust, resilient manner and on a financially solid foundation."

In April, Gerry Weber International AG had applied to the Essen District Court to initiate restructuring proceedings under the German Act on the Stabilization and Restructuring Framework for Companies (StaRUG). Gerry Weber Retail GmbH, in which the store business is bundled, had filed for insolvency in self-administration shortly thereafter. The insolvency proceedings were opened on Monday.

Just over three years ago, Gerry Weber had already had to be saved from bankruptcy with the help of insolvency proceedings./rea/DP/nas