The court’s decision states that Livraria Cultura provided incomplete information in the judicial recovery process.| Photo: Hugo Harada/Archive/ Gazeta do Povo

The Livraria Cultura chain was declared bankrupt this Thursday (9) for failure to comply with the terms of the judicial recovery commitment signed in 2018 with the 2nd Bankruptcy and Judicial Recovery Court of São Paulo. The company can still appeal the decision. (see in full)

In the decision of judge Ralpho Waldo de Barros Monteiro Filho, Livraria Cultura was unable to overcome the economic crisis which, at the time of the recovery request, had already accumulated a debt of R$ 285.4 million. He alleges that the network administrator had not been providing all the necessary information in the process, such as the payment of labor claims and financial movements of the partners.

“It is very evident that the debtors are not making efforts to uplift themselves, in a conduct diametrically opposed to that provided for by the LRF”, said the magistrate.

In the order, the judge also states that the network justified the difficulties due to “its economic and financial crisis, the deep economic crisis faced by the country since mid-2014, the drop in demand among Brazilian consumers for the acquisition of books and by the development of interest in reading as a hobby among the population, as well as the increase in production costs, which added to companies that could not be passed on to the final product, which is why it was necessary to stagnate product prices, as well as it was necessary to that the company Livraria Cultura SA would support almost entirely the inflationary pressure, reducing the profit and billing margins”.

The judge also determined that all the network’s assets, documents and books, be identified and evaluated, in addition to blocking the accounts of the holding company that controls the bookstore.