The distributor was not sweet – Newspaper Kommersant No. 213 (7414) dated 11/17/2022

The last of the distributors of the United Confectioners holding in Moscow and the Moscow region, Glavtorg, is facing bankruptcy at the request of Sberbank. The company’s business could have suffered from a high reliance on loans, as well as a conflict with a supplier that led to a criminal case against its founder. However, now confectioners have begun to work more directly with retailers, so there is no need for distributors.

Sberbank intends to apply to the arbitration court with an application for bankruptcy of a large distributor of confectionery LLC Glavtorg, notified the bank on November 14. Sberbank and Glavtorg did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

Glavtorg was founded in 2011. He called himself the last of the distributors of the United Confectioners holding (Red October, Babaevsky, Rot Front, etc.) that existed in Moscow and the region. Also worked with AKKOND, Slavyanka, Ferrero, Mars, Conti. At the end of 2020, he estimated his share in the Moscow confectionery market, excluding federal chains, at 50%. In addition to sweets, he sold tobacco products. In 2021, the revenue of Glavtorg increased by 36.5%, to 16.7 billion rubles, net profit was 866.22 million rubles. The owner and general director is Karen Nalbadian.

At the end of 2021, Glavtorg began placing a debut bond issue of 900 million rubles, but was only able to raise 381 million rubles. As Expert RA wrote, the aggravation of the macroeconomic situation in the first quarter of this year and the growth of the key rate affected. In mid-September, Glavtorg failed to transfer all the funds to redeem the coupon in a timely manner, allowing a technical default, Expert RA reported, downgrading the distributor’s rating to ruC.

As stated in the memorandum of Glavtorg, as of September 2021, the volume of bank loans of the company exceeded 2.5 billion rubles, of which 755 million rubles. accounted for Sberbank, and the rest – for VTB and Alfa-Bank. As Expert RA noted, Glavtorg’s business was highly dependent on loans, as the distributor provided a delay to customers, maintained a high level of product balances, and spent free money on purchases from prepaid suppliers. Anna Kertanova, director of corporate ratings at Expert RA, says that Glavtorg will not be able to service its loan obligations without new loans.

The conflict with the United Confectioners could also negatively affect the business. As follows from the case file, Glavtorg has been trying to recover 86.77 million rubles from the holding since the end of 2021. debt under a 2012 contract. As the representative of Glavtorg pointed out, the holding stopped shipments at the end of 2020 in order to engage in sales on its own. But Glavtorg could not prove the fulfillment of the agreement, and the company’s court refused.

The representative of the “United Confectioners” pointed out in court that the disagreements of the parties arose due to “bad faith” of the “Glavtorg”. As stated in the materials of the court, the manager of United Confectioners, for a fee from the general director of Glavtorg, provided the company with maximum discounts. The criminal case against the CEO and founder had a negative impact on the position of the company, Expert RA noted. In October, the court, at the suit of United Confectioners, recovered 76.55 million rubles from Glavtorg. penalties for violation of terms of payment for products. United Confectioners declined to comment.

Co-owner of the Moscow Pobeda confectionery factory Vitaly Muravyov says manufacturers have direct contracts with retail chains, and distributors can be useful in servicing independent stores. But there are few such people left in large cities, and you can work with the rest without intermediaries, he points out.

Nina Babinova, head of the bankruptcy practice at KSK Group, says that Sberbank will be able to file for bankruptcy 15 days after notification. Ivan Gulin, a partner at the RCT consulting group, clarifies that part of the property of Glavtorg is pledged to Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, which can receive 80-95% from the sale of assets.

Anatoly Kostyrev