Miroglio Textile, a provider of products to the printing industry owned by Miroglio Group, has made the decision to liquidate Govone Stamperia.
A report by La Stampa explains that the company’s shareholders decided not to recapitalise the company. The decision was made on 7 July 2020, following a suspension on production the day prior.
A company note says that the decision was taken after careful consideration of the financial economic situation and medium-term market prospects. It explains that the structural complexities of the Govone plant, combined with other difficulties, have become ‘even more impactful’ in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, “with an order book that has further crumbled in a market blocked, if not paralysed, due to the lockdown”.
The Govone plant – one of the largest printing presses in Europe, with 64,000 sqm of floor space – has been active since 1980. La Stampa reports that its difficulties have been chronicled over the last decade and reveal a slow descent in “both volumes and economic results, resulting in large losses, despite investments in technology and renewal[s] and various reorganisations”.
The news follows reports that the textile industry’s economy has been undeniably and irrevocably hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a survey conducted by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), results revealed current orders to be down on average by more than 40%, while global companies can expect a plummet in turnover by 32%. The ongoing effects of Covid-19 could potentially lead to further liquidations.
The Miroglio note continues: “The reasons for the crisis can be traced to the profound change that has affected the Italian textile market, with a reduction in average production volumes per model/variant and a strong push towards customisation logics and fragmented volumes, to the disadvantage of quantitatively relevant productions."
As expected, the liquidation will mean big changes for its staff. A reported 151 staff work within the Govone printing company; 10 were employed by Miroglio Textile for the production of surgical masks, while the remainder is ‘currently on redundancy for Covid-19’.
In June, it was reported that those that remain on the production line would help to combat the Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) emergency by producing surgical face masks. The company expected that, by the end of the year (2020), it would produce 7-10 million masks.
