Pressure mounts on Steinhoff

SHARES in South African retail giant Steinhoff were pummelled further yesterday after the company admitted it was still unable to determine the scale of its “financial irregularities” following its accounting scandal.

Steinhoff managers were locked in tense meetings with banks yesterday as it scrambled to refinance its loans.

The firm, which has a €10.2bn (£9bn) debt pile and owes creditors more than £15bn, said that its accounting forecasts were now “evolving daily”.

The embattled company, which owns Poundland, Harvey’s and Bensons for Beds in the UK, also revealed that lenders had withdrawn credit lines and its businesses were suffering reduced credit insurance, sparking fresh concerns about the fate of Steinhoff, once seen as a rival to Ikea.

A spokesman for Poundland said that it was confident that “supplier insurers fully understand the strength of our position – we’re trading strongly and independent of Steinhoff ”.

Banks including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Nomura are already nursing heavy losses on a €1.6bn margin loan to Steinhoff ’s recently departed chairman Christo Wiese.

The loan was originally agreed to help fund a capital raising to pay off the debt from the Poundland acquisition.

However, the extent of the share price fall since the accounting scandal has meant the share-backed loan is under water.

The company, which has already lost $10bn (£7.5bn) in value in a fortnight, endured a further 17pc sell-off yesterday.

Steinhoff said it has promoted chief operating officer Daniel van der Merwe to chief executive.