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Traditional company Wehrle-Werk AG in bankruptcy: 250 jobs at risk!
Wehrle-Werk AG from Emmendingen files for bankruptcy due to financial difficulties and internal problems, affecting 250 jobs.
Traditional company Wehrle-Werk AG in bankruptcy: 250 jobs at risk!
In a regrettable step, Wehrle-Werk AG, a traditional family business from Emmendingen with a proud 165 years of history, filed for bankruptcy at the Freiburg District Court on August 25, 2025. Over 250 employees are affected by this development, and there is great uncertainty since the company recorded sales of 50 million euros in the 2022/23 financial year, but suffered a loss of 17 million euros. Restructuring board member Axel Buchholz explained that the challenges of the last few weeks led to this step. merkur.de reports that the causes of this crisis are complex.
A key factor is the loss of the Russian business, which accounted for 5% of sales, after the attack on Ukraine. There was also the loss of two large orders and internal problems, which were exacerbated by a software change and a hacker attack. Rumors about the company's financial situation were already making the rounds, and employees were fully informed about the situation. The provisional insolvency administrator Marc-Philippe Hornung from the law firm SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz plans to organize the pre-financing of the insolvency money for the affected employees. A ray of hope: The subsidiaries of Wehrle-Werk AG are currently not affected, which raises hopes of a possible restructuring.
Background and challenges of the industry
Wehrle-Werk AG has specialized in GreenTech solutions for waste and wastewater treatment since the 1970s and offers individual solutions internationally, now in over 45 countries and on five continents. As regionimblick.de reports, the company is struggling with fluctuating incoming orders and delays in project execution. However, the picture in the industry is not isolated. According to ifm-bonn.org, a total of 21,812 bankruptcies were registered in Germany in 2024, representing an increase of 22.4% compared to the previous year. This development highlights the difficult economic situation, which primarily affects companies that have been on the market for a long time.
Bankruptcies are not ruled out, but they are also not an everyday form of company closure. It turns out that despite the increasing numbers, the number of insolvency proceedings remains relatively low compared to company start-ups. Nevertheless, Wehrle-Werk AG is at a crossroads and all eyes are on the company that was considered a pioneer in environmental technology.
What happens next remains to be seen. The hope for a better future remains, and the next steps will show whether the traditional company can further consolidate its roots in the region.