We appear to have another casualty in the increasingly competitive strobe market. According to ProfiFoto, The District Court of Würzburg has ordered the provisional insolvency administration of the assets of German lighting manufacturer Hensel-Visit GmbH & Co. KG (Hensel). This isn’t bankruptcy or the end of the business, yet, although the company does have a significant challenge on its hands.
Essentially, insolvency is when a company is unable to pay its debts on time. Hensel puts their current situation down to “unsatisfactory sales development” over recent months and the high costs of ongoing investment into developing new products.
According to the report on ProfiFoto, a provisional insolvency administrator has been appointed to help Hensel restructure the company in order to bring things back into the black. They say that in the meantime, Hensel’s business operations will run as usual during this restructuring process, which is currently being examined. The goal is to use the restructuring to help strengthen Hensel’s position and cash flow to thrive in the future. The opening of the actual insolvency proceedings is scheduled for September 1st, 2019, only two months away. So, hopefully, they’ll have figured out a plan by then, otherwise, it may be an end to the company and another longstanding lighting heavyweight that’s wes founded in 1963, over fifty years ago. Managing director, Guido Puttkammer is quoted to have said: “I am very confident that Hensel will continue to offer first-class products and will be available to all customers in the photographic and industrial sectors as a competent and reliable partner”. We wish them well. Hensel is a very respected name in lighting, and it would be sad to see them go the way of Bowens and Multiblitz. Yes, I know Bowens is back, but it’s not really. [via Profifoto]
