The parent company of the toy brand Playmobil is cutting around 700 jobs worldwide, including around 370 in Germany. The Horst Brandstätter Group announced this on Monday in Zirndorf near Nuremberg. The job cuts planned by 2025 correspond to a share of 17 percent worldwide and 16 percent of the total workforce in Germany.
“The company management decided this after completing a comprehensive investigation into all business areas and taking into account business developments and current economic challenges,” said a spokesman.
The company cited a difficult economic situation as the reason for the job cuts. According to the information, both the toy brand Playmobil and the plant pot brand Lechuza, which also belongs to the group, continue to feel the effects of the corona pandemic. The Playmobil parent company has recorded losses in sales and profits in the past two financial years. The toy industry as a whole, however, was one of the winners during the pandemic, with many companies recording increasing sales.
The Playmobil parent company has a complex structure with two foundations and a holding company. According to various media reports, this has led to friction in recent years. It was only in July that there was a change at the top of the group: the previous CFO, René Feser, took over as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Steffen Höpfner, until then chairman of the board, had asked the advisory board to terminate his contract early after seven years in office. Playmobil inventor Horst Brandstätter died in 2015.
With the “necessary staff cuts”, the Horst Brandstätter Group is securing jobs in Germany and Europe, it said in a statement. Investments in the group’s brands are planned in the next few years to secure the company’s future.
According to the information, the job cuts will take place “amicably”. It is also expected that employees will take early retirement or take other positions within the group. The company could not initially be reached to answer the question of the extent to which the now announced reductions will also include layoffs.
However, it had already become known on Friday that the Playmobil manufacturer wanted to outsource its mold making and cut 74 jobs, although layoffs were also expected, as it was said. The company justified the move by saying that mold making is no longer one of the company’s core competencies and has lost its importance.
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