Fashion group Espirit is set to lose two of its top executives. Anders Kristiansen, who took charge in 2018 as CEO of the company, tendered his resignation to the company’s board of directors on December. Similarly, Johannes Schmidt-Schultes, CEO too plan to depart soon. Both of them will leave the company by February 28, 2021, says a report by Fashion Network.

Esprit’s new CEO will not be based in Germany, a country where, in March, the company filed for a protection procedure relating to its German business, including the company headquarters. Ultimately, Esprit will close down half of its retail network in Germany, for a loss of 1,100 jobs. The group is not struggling in Europe alone. In April, it decided to cease trading in the majority of its Asian markets too.

As of June 30 2020, Esprit had the equivalent of 3,400 full-time employees. In the 2019-20 financial year, which closed on June 30, the group’s sales fell by 23.6%, down to HKD9.874 billion (€1.09 billion). The group's losses before interest and tax seriously deepened in the course of the financial year, increasing by 65.7%, from HKD2.080 billion to HKD3.447 billion (€380 million).