Wolford speeds up cost cuts, axes more jobs

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 16, 2017

Troubled high-end hosiery and bodywear specialist Wolford has revealed that it’s cutting more jobs as the Austrian firm continues to work on its turnaround programme with cost cuts a key part of that plan.

The latest round of cuts only involves 15 jobs, but they’re going at its Bregenz HQ almost immediately and add to the 41 full-time roles it has cut since July. That still leaves it with just under 1,500 full-time employees overall.

The latest move is expected to save it more than €3 million a year and the savings will make an impact in its 2018/19 financial year, it said Monday.

CEO Axel Dreher admitted that the cuts would be “painful for all those involved.” But he added: “However, in this way we are moving a decisive step closer towards our objective of operating profitably once again.”

So is this the end of cost cuts at the intimates giant that has been struggling for several years now? Perhaps not. In the statement announcing today’s news, it also said that “further optimisation potential should be identified in the coming months and realised in the course of the present 2017/18 financial year.”

There could be more change ahead on other fronts too with former supervisory board chief Antonella Mei-Pochtler believed to be preparing a bid for the firm in conjunction with an international retail consortium. A large number of other potential investors have also shown a strong interest, the firm has said.

The company reported an operating loss of €15.7m in the year to April 30.