The overvaluation of the stock and the oversize of the company has led the new team of the Marie Claire stockings factory to request a new loan of 12 million euros from the Generalitat Valenciana, which was approved this Friday by the plenary session of the Consell. This is the second injection of public money that the firm has received since, just over a year ago, it was acquired by a logistics firm Think Textil, bringing the amount received to 21 million euros.
The brand already agreed, with the Valencian Government, in June of last year, the granting of two loans. One of them, of 9.5 million, was made through a financing line for strategic companies affected by the covid, which offers ordinary and participatory loans, and linked to the Valencian Resilience Fund. The aid to the factory, on which practically an entire region and more than 300 families depend, has been common in recent years and, until now, totaled more than eight million euros, of which four were pending payment.
With the visit of the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, to the factory, in June 2021, another 2.5 million were committed with the aim of “ensuring the complete viability of this strategic company both in economic, territorial and generation terms. of employment for a region at risk of depopulation such as Alt Maestrat”, as Ximo Puig said. But the real situation in which the firm finds itself, which, according to its sources, “is much more serious than what was initially thought”, has forced the new management team to raise this second operation to 12 million. within the Fininval financing line linked to the Valencian Resilience Fund.
Logistics center closure
One of the measures adopted by the brand has been the closure of the logistics center that the company had in the Castellón town of Borriol, whose activity has been transferred to Vilafranca, in order to combine and optimize work. According to the same sources, the company offered all workers the opportunity to relocate to the Villafranca del Cid facilities, although not all agreed.
In addition, the new management team has launched a restructuring of the shifts that have gone from five to four days in order to also optimize resources and save energy. Likewise, the number of references has been reduced to achieve more efficient management, and next week they will present a platform and new online sales channels to be able to carry out the promised internationalization.
What affects the most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
The beneficiary company must allocate the funds received from the loan only to finance the fixed costs incurred in this period that were not covered by the contribution to profits or financed by other external sources of financing. As a result of the approval of the loan, the company is obliged, among other things, to maintain its activity until the loan is fully paid off in Vilafranca del Cid, promoting and ensuring the maintenance of employment in the area. In addition, you must request authorization from the Institut Valencià de Finances (IVF) to initiate any employment regulation file, the outsourcing of part or all of the activity outside of Vilafranca, as well as for the opening of new work centers outside the town.
