BUSINESS NEWS - Steinhoff said on Tuesday it had started to lose credit lines from lenders, pummelling the South African retailers’ shares again as it grapples with an accounting scandal.
The embattled owner of brands such as Mattress Firm, Conforama and Poundland said in a presentation prepared for lenders at a meeting on Tuesday in London that it was still unable to determine the scale of the financial irregularities.
Uncertainty about Steinhoff’s finances has hammered the shares that are listed in Frankfurt and Johannesburg, driving the firm’s market value down by more than $10 billion since it first disclosed what it described as “accounting irregularities” two weeks ago. The stock tumbled 20 percent further on Tuesday.
The firm, once dubbed Africa’s IKEA and which vied with the Swedish giant for global market share, said some credit facilities were being suspended or withdrawn, while insurers were cancelling or reducing credit insurance.
