ANN CROTTY: Diminishing ‘law’ of greater power
The focus may spread to Steinhoff’s operating assets
Sheet ’appens," said Stephan, the sales assistant at the Conforama store on the outskirts of a medium-sized town in the south of France. He was explaining to my friend that he relied entirely on Google to find out what was going on with Steinhoff, the German company that owns Conforama. No mention of SA shareholders. "The bosses don’t tell them anything," translated my friend. "He doesn’t think they know what’s happening, just that there’s problems at the top companies." There’s talk that some stores may have to close, which means job losses, so there wasn’t joy around over the Christmas period.Stephan’s phlegmatic attitude might just be a Gallic response to adversity or it may stem from the knowledge that retrenched workers in France stand to receive a two-year payout. To date, discussion of the Steinhoff scandal has focused on the destruction of shareholder wealth. But in the coming weeks and months the focus and the destruction may spread to the group’s extensive operating assets...
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