In the insolvency proceedings with Kovosvit MAS, the court declared a moratorium

The company Kovosvit MAS Machine Tools from Sezimov Ústí in Tábor region has been insolvent since mid-April. “The moratorium is effective from the moment this resolution is published in the insolvency register and lasts for a period of three months,” the court’s resolution reads.

The court stated that the motion for moratorium was filed on time and contains all the necessary facts. “In this context, the insolvency court states that when declaring a moratorium, it does not examine the submitted proposal in substance and declares a moratorium if only the formal requirements are met,” said judge Miroslav Veselý. He also pointed out that Kovosvit MAS submitted a written statement from the majority creditor of Kovosvit MAS Foundry that it agrees with the announcement of the moratorium.

On Friday, trade unionists and employees discussed the situation in the company with company representative Gergely Vesszös. According to their agreement, most of the 220 employees should receive their outstanding salaries for March by mid-May, and the company should also pay them a proportional part of their salary for April, when they were at home due to the employer’s so-called obstacle. The results of the meeting were announced by the spokesperson of the trade union organization Kovo, Jan Exner. Employees who stay at home in May will also receive only part of their salary, namely 85 percent. But this only applies until May 7, when the negotiations will continue, Exner added. He did not say what the proportional part would be for April.

The court started insolvency proceedings with Kovosvit. He also owes two hundred employees

Homemade

The company has had economic problems for a long time. Kovosvit MAS Machine Tools ended in 2022 with a loss after taxation of 167.2 million crowns. A year earlier, the company had a loss of CZK 134 million. The second of the main companies of the Kovosvit concern, Kovosvit MAS Foundry, reported a profit of 1.1 million crowns the year before. The company has not yet published the financial results from last year.

Until the summer of 2020, Kovosvit MAS Machine Tools belonged to businessman Michal Strnad, who sold the company to the Russian investment fund Trust Union Fund for hundreds of millions of crowns. The new owner took over the business with liabilities and loans worth several hundred million. Due to the war in Ukraine, the company lost all deliveries to Russia, which made up about a tenth of all orders. In mid-April, the CEO of the company, Jan Kočvara, resigned because he did not agree with the actions of the company’s owners in the previous weeks.