Ralf Ringer faces bankruptcy

Shoe retailer Ralf Ringer is facing bankruptcy due to the statement of the Stivali company, from which the company leases production facilities in the Moscow region, about the bankruptcy of Ralf Ringer, should from the file of arbitration cases.

The application was accepted at the end of June this year. A hearing in this case in first instance is scheduled for October 16.

In a comment to Kommersant, a representative of Ralph Ringer explainedthat the company rented production facilities from Stivali on the territory of the Taldom shoe factory in the Moscow region and owed more than 20.7 million rubles. Ralf Ringer emphasized that they want to pay off the debt, but cannot due to the seizure of Ralf Ringer’s bank accounts.

In a letter to the Federal Tax Service dated October 4, 2023, the founder and CEO of Ralf Ringer, Andrei Berezhnoy, asked to unblock accounts at least for payments to the budget. The Federal Tax Service has not yet commented on this information.

It is clarified that all the company’s bank accounts were blocked as part of a criminal investigation. In mid-August, it became known that Berezhnoy was under recognizance not to leave the country in a tax evasion case.

In 2021, the tax inspectorate, based on the results of the audit for the period 2014-2016. made a decision on additional taxes, fines and penalties in the amount of 3.2 billion rubles. Later the amount of demands was reduced up to 1.45 billion rubles. As a representative of Ralf Ringer clarified earlier, the inspection considered that the manufacturer’s only supplier was affiliated with a group of persons and imported less materials and components across the border than the total number of shoes produced. The tax authority actually concluded that there were no supplies at all, and expenses and VAT deductions for all materials purchased over the three audited years were excluded from Ralf Ringer’s expenses, which reduce the taxable base.

Ralf Ringer (formerly the Belka trading house) is a Russian manufacturer and retailer of women’s, men’s and children’s shoes under the brand of the same name, as well as under the Piranha and Riveri brands. The company has existed since 1996. The retailer’s production facilities are located in Moscow, the Moscow region, Zaraysk and Vladimir. The chain includes more than 1,500 stores, including franchises, according to the Ralf Ringer website. The revenue of all companies of the group, according to SPARK-Interfax, in 2021 exceeded 9.5 billion rubles.