Office Depot Europe Owner Expects “Difficult Decisions Ahead”

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Office Depot Europe Owner Expects “Difficult Decisions Ahead”
As a result of the Corona crisis and the fact that employees are working from home, corporate customers at Office Depot Europe have declined. Dirk Markus, CEO of the owner Aurelius, informed about this in a letter to the shareholders.

A number of Aurelius’ companies are struggling to keep track of and deal with the dramatic changes in their respective markets, and sales in most traditional non-food retail stores are currently “practically zero”. Literally, in the coming weeks and months, “it may be necessary to make difficult decisions for some of our portfolio companies, especially those that were already in trouble before the crisis.” The Management Board is closely monitoring the situation in all portfolio companies. For some of the portfolio companies, the current phase is a “test period”, says Markus: “Above all, consumer-oriented companies are confronted with a demand and supply shock”.

The “Aurelius ship” is nevertheless “stable as always”, writes Dirk Markus in the letter to the shareholders. Aurelius Equity Opportunities currently has a total of more than 400 million euros in cash, of which more than 200 million euros in non-operational (excess) cash. The current exceptional situation offers investors attractive entry opportunities, for Aurelius the current market environment represents “a unique opportunity” to acquire companies “that offer a highly attractive restructuring and exit pipeline for the coming years”. Aurelius spoke in the April 2019 annual report of a “challenging year” for Office Depot Europe.
https://www.pbs-business.de/news/handel/16-04-2020-office-depot-europe-eigentuemer-erwartet-schwierige-entscheidungen/

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April 21, 2020 at 2:00 PM