On 29 February 2016 Karlie announced a package of capital measures which secures financing for roughly the next 18 months. As Karlie has managed to prolong and extend its credit and factoring lines with two major bank consortia by December 2017 (totalling EUR 23m), the company will likely gain significantly more headroom to focus on its operational turnaround. In addition, its tight liquidity is strengthened by a EUR 2.8m cash injection owing to a capital increase from 100% shareholder Perusa Partner GmbH.

While these capital measures free the company from a short-term liquidity bottleneck and underpin the parent company’s strong capital commitment, the refinancing of credit lines will again come onto Karlie’s agenda in late 2017, only a few months before it must redeem or refinance its EUR 10.1m senior unsecured corporate bond in June 2018. A successful refinancing will likely depend on how well the operational recovery progresses. Reflecting Karlie’s current operating weaknesses in conjunction with weak key credit metrics and remaining refinancing risks in late 2017, Scope has downgraded its Corporate Issuer Credit Rating to B with a Stable Outlook on 19 February 2016 (click here).

This publication does not announce a credit rating action.