Robinsons owes S$31.7m to 442 creditors

Singapore

DEPARTMENT store Robinsons Singapore, which is now under provisional liquidation, owes S$31.7 million to 442 creditors, with some of the largest amounts due to its landlords and employees.

Robinsons on Oct 30 announced that it would exit the Singapore retail scene for good, but has kept its last two stores at The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Centre open for closing-down sales. The operator has S$25 million worth of retail inventory, according a press release on Monday by restructuring firm Gordon Brothers, which has been engaged by Robinsons' provisional liquidator to manage the closing of the stores in Singapore.

As at Oct 29, however, Robinsons owes its landlords significant sums, according to a notice released by the provisional liquidator on Wednesday. It owes Swee Cheng Holdings, the landlord of its flagship outlet at The Heeren, S$7.2 million; it also owes RCS Trust - CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust owns Raffles City through the trust - S$4.2 million.

The notice also shows Robinsons owing Lendlease Retail Investments 3 S$4.2 million. Lendlease operates Jem shopping mall, which Robinsons exited in August this year.

In addition, potential employee claims are pegged at about S$4.4 million. The Business Times (BT) reported earlier this week that some 11 former employees of Robinsons have approached the Ministry of Manpower and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management for help over the payment of retrenchment benefit, salary-in-lieu of notice and encashment of unconsumed annual leave.

Many of the other creditors are brands that stock their products with Robinsons, with claims ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to the hundred thousands. They include mattress brands such as Simmons, Sealy, Serta and Tempur.

Earlier this month, the mattress brands announced that they will honour customers' orders, despite not having been paid yet by Robinsons, after drawing complaints from customers.

A number of international beauty brands are also affected. For instance, L'Oreal Singapore is owed S$572,700. Homegrown fragrance and cosmetics distributor Luxasia is owed S$826,600.

Other creditors named in the notice include Robinsons' former public relations representative, J Factor Communications - owed S$23,540 - and the Singapore Press Holdings - owed nearly S$60,000. The latter publishes BT.

A creditors' meeting will be held online on Nov 26, at 2pm.

Robinsons' impending exit after 162 years in Singapore comes amid pressure from the rise of e-commerce and specialist retailers. The department store had chalked up at least six years of losses and in 2018, recorded losses of S$54.4 million against S$153.8 million in revenue.