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Robinsons Singapore, one of the oldest retailers in the Republic with more than a century in business, will close permanently after the losses of recent years.
But its last two stores at The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Center may stay open for a while longer for final sales.
The Business Times (BT) discovered on Thursday that the department store operator had been subjected to a voluntary liquidation from creditors.
Robinson & Co (Singapore) confirmed this in a statement on Friday.
Its Senior General Manager, Danny Lim, said: “We regret this result today. Despite recent challenges in the industry, the Robinsons team continued to pursue the brand’s success. However, the changing consumer landscape makes it difficult for us to be successful in the long term and the Covid-19 pandemic have further exacerbated our challenges. “
He added that it has been “an honor” for Robinsons to serve the Singapore market and that he was “grateful for the dedication of (the) team and for the support shown by (their) clients over the years.”
Robinsons employees have been informed by management and provisional liquidators of this news. The company said employees will be paid according to the next pay cycle, “well in advance of the usual date for the settlement process, which would normally take months.”
He added that the liquidators will also work with the Singapore Trade and Manual Workers Union (SMMWU), E2i and the NTUC Work Safety Council to ensure employees are supported and will also take advantage of existing government schemes such as the Skills Package and SGUnited Jobs from SkillsFuture.
The exit ends at least six years of losses that Robinsons has booked against declining revenue.
Financial records show the company had an after-tax loss from continuing operations of $ 26.5 million in 2014. It sank further into the red until 2018, when it posted losses of $ 54.4 million.
[[nid:499024]]The exception to this was in 2015, when it cut its losses to $ 17.4 million.
Meanwhile, Robinsons’ top line dwindled. It generated $ 153.8 million in revenue in 2018, down from the $ 257.3 million it earned in 2014.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Robinsons has shown signs of increased tension with the closure of its 85,000-square-foot store in the Jem Mall in May.
At the time, he had also told BT that competition from the rapidly growing suburban shopping malls had made having multiple department stores in Singapore unsustainable “long before” the pandemic emerged.
Still, “the challenges we face with the current Covid-19 situation are extremely difficult and the uncertainty is very disturbing for everyone,” he added.
But the company said its management was “committed to ensuring viable and successful operations in Singapore.” The department store had also established a presence at Lazada’s LazMall. Those plans are now moot.
Robinsons said its stores in Malaysia, located at Shoppes at Four Seasons Place and The Gardens Mall, will also go through a similar liquidation process at the same time.
Other department stores could be found in Robinsons shoes.
In August, Japanese department store operator Isetan Singapore posted a net loss of $ 317,000 for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net profit of $ 1.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
This was mainly due to a decrease in sales, as well as impairment losses on financial assets.
He had also warned that the retail environment remains “very challenging” and that a material recovery is not expected in 2020.
This article was first published in The Business Times. Permission is required for reproduction.
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