GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

Omas the famed Italian pen manufacturer has gone into voluntary liquidation. Luca Baglione, Omas’ sales manager, put an emotive post on Instagram in mid February 2016 so after 90 years in business, it seems that Omas has begun laying off staff and the transition to bankruptcy begins.

In 2007 a majority stake holding in Omas was acquired by Hengdeli, China's largest distributor of luxury watched but by 2009 Omas' costs were almost double their revenue and they made a loss of over £1m. 2010 saw an increase in revenues but they still posted a huge loss. So although Omas' situation had improved slightly it was time for Hengdeli to offload and they sold Omas to another Chinese company Ming Fung (later known as O-Luxe) in September 2011 but unfortunately the writing was on the wall.

For the best interpretation on the Omas situation that I have found I would refer you to the blog of Dr. Jonathon Deans - Pen Economics