Swedish whisky producer Mackmyra has announced it plans to declare bankruptcy.
In a statement yesterday (19 August), the group said it had “not managed to secure sufficient liquid funds to continue operating the business mainly in the short term”.
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“It is with great sadness that we have to state that it is unfortunately not possible to continue the company’s operations”, Petter Ski, the chairman of Mackmyra’s board of directors, said.
“The company’s management and board have struggled hard to get the company’s profitability and liquidity right. Despite fantastic work by both staff and management, it is still not possible to continue.”
Mackmyra’s application for bankruptcy is in the process of being filed at Gävle district court in Sweden.
The whisky distiller had undergone restructuring in 2023, it said, “including significant staff reductions, better conditions in selected balance sheet items, revisions to the concept and sales structure”.
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By GlobalDataTowards the end of 2023, the group issued new shares to stakeholders, which, when combined with an overdraft loan, were expected to “ensur[e] the company’s ongoing change work back to a stable and profitable company”.
In December of last year, the group said its transaction bank SEB had decided “without any justification” to not extend Mackmyra’s overdraft into the new year, a move which meant “the company’s liquidity situation deteriorated drastically”.
In May, Mackmyra said it had received a stakeholder loan “from some of the company’s larger owners” to enable negotiations “with several industry players about in-depth collaborations and part ownership” in the second quarter of the year.
These talks however were unsuccessful. “It is also not considered possible to obtain additional financing required within the framework of a restructuring procedure”, Mackmyra said.
Emma Berglund Uväng, partner at Scandinavian law firm Schjødt, has been appointed as bankruptcy trustee.
Ski added: “Since I took over as chairman of the board just over a year ago, my focus, together with the then newly appointed management and the board, has been to find a long-term solution for Mackmyra, but I am forced to state that time has not been enough.
“I really hope that the bankruptcy trustee now gets the chance to do something constructive with the values that exist in the company and secure the Mackmyra brand and its 25-year history.”
Mackmyra CEO Patrick Björsjö described the news as “a sad decision, especially for our staff, our incredibly loyal customers and ambassadors.”
Just Drinks has asked the group to confirm how many employees will be impacted by its bankruptcy.
Björsjö added: “The feeling is of course reinforced by the fact that this is happening in the middle of the company’s 25th anniversary and at a time when we were really on the way to turning the company’s development towards profitability and a bright future”.
Mackmyra signed a new distribution deal for the UK with Summerton Whisky Club earlier this month. The distiller had suspended all sales to the UK following the termination of its former distribution agreement with Craftwork at the end of 2023.
Summerton told Just Drinks it would “continue to operate as planned” with the brand in the UK for now.
