Finishing manufacturer MB enters administration

According to local media reports, Martin Mucha, an insolvency specialist with Stuttgart law firm Grub Brugger, was appointed provisional liquidator to MB on 23 July.

The management of the 150-staff firm, which had a turnover of €14 million ($16.5 million) in 2011, are said to believe in a possible restoration and blamed MB’s insolvency on sluggish order intake in recent months.

This in turn was attributed to customers holding off on investment in the quarter leading up to Drupa – a phenomenon that Heidelberg also highlighted in its recent first quarter results.

Since then orders are said to have stabilised, giving hope for the continuation of the company.

MB’s slide into administration will have no impact on sales and service in Australia, according to the company’s local representative.

Matthew Benn, the managing director of local distributor Fab Equipment, said MB was no different from other manufacturers around the world that were “struggling in this tumultuous time”.

“MB is still open for business. Just because they’re insolvent doesn’t mean that everything is shut down,” he told ProPrint.

“MB has had many good orders come in post-Drupa and is assured of multiple investor bids in the coming weeks as the insolvency proceedings are carried through their process.”

“There is always risk associated with growth and development and if manufacturers don’t change with the times they end up bankrupt with multimillion-dollar debts instead of insolvent, which isn’t really as bad as it sounds,” said Benn.

This article originally appeared at printweek.com

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