What: The German company has already received €680mn in the past two years from the German state.

Why it is important: We unfortunately need to be prepared to more news like this as we live in a time of continuous crises. However, in the case of Galeria, the group needs to accelerate harder on its transition, probably at the cost of closing a number of stores.

The German department store chain Galeria Kardstadt Kaufhof has been impacted, like other players in Europe, by the war in Ukraine, energy crisis and low consumer confidence, which leads to unplanned additional spending (€115mn in the next 2 years for energy alone). As a consequence, the company has to apply for German state aid for the third time, after having already received €680mn in the past two years.

This raises some criticism from experts, who lament that the optimisation of the group (with the merger of Kardstadt and Kaufhof) has not been fully finished, and the store fleet is still too large, with 131 stores in Germany.

The group also owns Inno in Belgium.

Galeria Kardstadt Kaufhof is applying for state aid for the third time