AS Qualitex, a knitted fabrics manufacturer that has been in business in Sindi, Pärnu County, for almost three decades, is shutting down and will lay off the 34 employees it still has on the payroll after a major wave of layoffs in late 2023, regional newspaper Pärnu Postimees reported.
The company informed the Tori municipality about its difficult situation about six months ago. According to the municipality’s communications advisor, Lauri Luide, the owner said that it was difficult for a small company to survive in globalized industry.
Data available from registries show that as of Aug. 22, the tax arrears of Qualitex amounted to over 125,000 euros. Claims against the company total more than 130,000 euros. The company has yet to submit its 2023 annual report.
In the 2022 report, Qualitex says that its full-year sales revenue totaled 4,625,540 euros and the net result for the period was a loss of 168,048 euros. The company explained that the losses were caused by the sharp increase in the price of natural gas and electricity, and binding contracts with customers. The year before that, the company made a loss of almost 125,000 euros.
Kristjan Heamäe, lead consultant at the Pärnu County department of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, said Qualitex has informed the fund of the collective redundancies.
In November 2023, Qualitex, the only knitted fabrics manufacturer in Estonia, said in a press release that it was about to lay off 36 employees and relocate part of its business to elsewhere in the European Union. Before these redundancies, 84 people worked at the Sindi plant.
The company explained at the time that their priority was to maintain all customer relations and to expand business, but this was no longer possible in the economic environment prevailing in Estonia. Kristi Täht, the owner and member of the management board of Qualitex, said that inflation, high energy prices and COVID had impacted and were still impacting all EU countries, but the ways in which the economic environment and competitiveness were maintained differed from country to country.
She added that by transferring part of business another European country, the company will remain competitive and keep half of its jobs in Estonia.
Qualitex, founded in 1997, used to export 90 percent of its output to foreign markets.
Source: BNS
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