Richard Walker of De Dietrich Kitchen Appliances explains the position of De Dietrich and Fagor in the UK

Sales and marketing director of De Dietrich Kitchen Appliances, Richard Walker said there has been “way too much supposition and confusion” about the situation of Fagor in Spain and Poland: “Fagor in Spain and Poland are not in administration.  They have applied for credit protection as part of a special law in Spain.  There is no equivalent in the UK.  This is not saying they will not go into administration at some point in the near future, but it has not happened yet.”

In a bid to quell industry speculation and correct inaccurate reporting, Walker pointed out the position for De Dietrich Kitchen Appliances, which owns Fagor and De Dietrich brands in the UK.

Walker explained 42 companies trade as Fagor, within the Fagor Group, which forms part of the 270-strong parent company Mondragon Corporation. He stated: “It’s going to be a very long year, if it’s reported the Fagor Group is going into administration each time one of the companies files for credit protection.”

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His comments follow the recent report of Fagor Electrodomesticos in Spain and Fagor Mastercook in Poland filing for credit protection and the subsequent legal separation of FagorBrandt in France.

De Dietrich Kitchen Appliances which operates as a separate legal entity within the French division of the Fagor Group of companies, is not directly affected by the situation.

However, Richard Walker openly stated the company has been indirectly affected, as appliances sold in the UK are manufactured in Spain, Poland and France. He said: “It does start creating ripples.”

Although Walker said the company does not have any short-term problems of stock availability, and in fact has “healthy” stock in the UK and some in France, he added: “We will be indirectly affected in terms of stock availability, across some products.” When asked which products, Walker said: “It’s quite complex. I’m not avoiding the question but I don’t want to mislead anyone because the picture is changing on a day-by-day basis.” 

De Dietrich Kitchen Appliances has around 500 active accounts in the UK and Walker said: “We’re doing our very, very best to support them. We are communicating everything we know and have lists of stock availability in the UK and France.”

He acknowledged the support of his Basingstoke-based team, stating: “We have a great sales team and fantastic office staff who are all very positive and supporting our customers.”

In fact, Walker believes the greatest concern for the UK business isn’t stock issues but headlines from unregulated sources, such as blogs, which aren’t reporting events factually.