Uncertain future for the Sixty Group

On Facebook, everything appears normal. Fans of the label Miss Sixty- over five hundred thousand of them - are posting comments and choosing their favourite items with “likes”. The Sixty Group - which owns the brands Miss Sixty,

Energie, Killah, Murphy & Nye, and RefrigiWear - is, however, on the verge of bankruptcy. Before Christmas, a judge will decide whether the company survives or collapses. The court has ninety days to decide on bankruptcy if creditors do not accept a 30 percent payment of debts.

More news may follow the next meeting at the Ministry of Economic Development set for 12 November. On that date more will be revealed bout the measures to be taken to manage the 400 redundancies, given that the new owners, Crescent Hyde Park, have confirmed only fifty positions. According to the local press, there is mounting suspicion that the owners will want to limit the newly formed company's activities to the collection for the Italian market, while the rest is decommissioned and moved to China.

On Monday 29 October, during the last meeting at the Ministry of Economic Development held in Rome, the company only confirmed the request for the lease of the company branch, a request made ​​to keep business alive pending the outcome of the application to the courts for a voluntary arrangement with creditors, i.e. an alternative procedure to avoid bankruptcy, made by the new shareholders after the takeover of the group by the heirs of founder Wicky Hassan.

The origin of the crisis
But how did it come to this? The Company, founded by Wicky Hassan (who died approximately a year ago) and Renato Rossi in 1989, was burdened with 300 million euros in debt accumulated after financing an expansion that was a bit too aggressive, as well as the effects of the international economic and consumer crisis. These two factors forced Rossi and Hassan's heirs to sell all the brands (excluding Roberta di Camerino) to the pan-Asian fund Crescent Hyde Park. At the end of 2011, group turnover fell to 300 million euros (the group reported sales of 500 million euros in 2009 and 700 million euros in 2007).

The future
The fate of the group appears uncertain, at least until Christmas, when the court decides whether to accept the new owners’ plan or opt for bankruptcy instead. In a matter of months it should also be clear whether the owners, who have offices in Shanghai and Singapore, wish to limit the new company's activities to the collection for the Italian market and transfer the rest to China. This is key to understanding what will happen to European distribution, which is currently practically non-existent since production has ground to a halt (workers have been forced to take compulsory leave). Distributors from the UK and France are complaining about no longer receiving ordered goods.

For now, the only certainty is the level of popularity the group's flagship brand Miss Sixty still enjoys. On the social network Facebook, it’s business as usual and the fan base is still growing. Miss Sixty Portugal has 9,342 devotees, the Russian page counts 1,492 admirers, the Spanish one 777, and Miss Sixty Greece has a grand total of 16,514 followers.