No more interest
Four shareholders paid off ABN Amro’s debt in return for more shares, which meant the company did not have to take on more debt. Chairman and shareholder Jeroen Schothorst says he is happy with the new arrangement: “We are not paying any interest anymore, no more down payments. We would have had to refinance the debt in two years’ time and that would have cost time and energy. Right now, we can focus on our entrepreneurial spirit“, he told De Telegraaf.
As McGregor no longer has to pay interest, the money will be reinvested into the company, specifically in its ICT, logistics and marketing plans.
The company carried a huge debt for many years, ever since it withdrew from the stock exchange in 2006. Within a year, it asked for 220 million euro with ABN Amro, pretty much equal to its turnover at that time. It managed to lower that sum to 150 million euro in 2013, but that is when sales started to slump. Now, McGregor has managed to become entirely free of debt.
