Bristol looks for acquirer and protection against creditors

The Belgian Euro Shoe Group is applying protection against creditors for its domestic branch, which includes 117 Belgian shoe shops under the Bristol label. The retailer will look for potential acquirers for all or parts of the organisation. The stores abroad are not part of the restructuring.

No buffers

The news is not a very big surprise for insiders: the retailer has been loss-making for years, and its condition did not improve due to the pandemic and subsequent inflation crisis. Still, the shoe chain did post a modest operating profit in 2022, for the first time in years. At that point, the retailer even immediately announced the opening of twenty additional shops over the next five years.

However, last autumn was poor and the first few months of this year did not bring any improvement either. “The whole market took hits then,” CEO Elise Vanaudenhove told Belgian newspaper De Tijd. As Bristol had no financial buffers remaining, the chain was hit harder than some competitors. “Today, we are not strong enough to continue absorbing these blows ourselves. That is why we are looking for buyers”, she elaborated.

No news from Holland

Euro Shoe Group has filed the application for judicial reorganisation with the Hasselt court and intends to look for “potential acquirers in the broad retail landscape for all or parts of the organisation”. The company hopes to maximise job retention. Shops will start a clearance sale next week.

The group’s eighty Dutch shops are not involved in the legal proceedings. However, it is no secret that the retailer is also struggling in that market. Recently, Vanaudenhove denied rumours about a possible departure of Bristol from the Netherlands.