Zortrax goes into restructuring to address economic woes

Zortrax, once the leader in desktop and prosumer filament material extrusion 3D printing (MEX, FFF), is going into restructuring to address significant economic woes. According to NewConnect, the Polish stock index, where the company is listed, and as first reported by local 3D printing industry expert Pawel Slusarczyk, the Management Board of Zortrax SA, based in Olsztyn, informed that under Art. 210 of the Act of May 15, 2015 – Restructuring Law, the company concluded on May 8, 2024, an agreement to supervise the course of restructuring proceedings (proceeding for the approval of a partial arrangement) with Mr. Paweł Głodek, who will act as the arrangement supervisor. Mr. Paweł Głodek holds a license as a restructuring advisor and the title of a qualified restructuring advisor.

According to the Company’s position, the purpose of the announcement on setting the arrangement date is to enable restructuring by concluding an arrangement with some of the creditors, while securing the legitimate rights of creditors, as well as to protect the interests of the Company, its shareholders and contractors. The company together with the above-mentioned as a restructuring advisor, intends to continue the process of comprehensive restructuring of the Company’s enterprise in terms of revenues and costs. The restructuring of the Company will allow for increasing turnover and maximizing profits in the current legal and financial environment.

Information about the restructuring is another bitter pill for shareholders to swallow in recent months. “In terms of revenues, the company has been on a slippery slope for a long time – Slusarczyk writes – achieving lower results quarter by quarter. The company’s 3D printers are currently offered at historically low prices. The situation is so bad that Zortrax made one of its most valuable crown jewels – the proprietary Z-SUITE software – available to the Italian Roboze for €170,000,” Slusarczyk said.

In a way, Zortrax has been a victim of its own early success, like many other young players in the industry. Zortrax reportedly lied about a contract with Dell for 5,000 3D printers, which allowed it to raise significant capital. Either way, during the period between 2014 and 2016 it became one of the biggest brands in desktop and prosumer 3D printing, offering one of the fastest and most reliable machines available.

The company soon became difficult to reach – beyond the occasional PR sent through agencies – and this trend only worsened over the years. I have stressed it before and I will stress it again. Companies – especially as they experience some early success – need to always continue to work with all trade media. With Zortrax in particular it seemed as if – despite significant efforts made on our part to reach out over the years – the company focused on certain outlets while ignoring others, failing to understand that the AM media market, just like the overall AM market, is constantly evolving.

Even the last attempt to turn the company around last November, with agreement which will was supposed to end with investing PLN 5 million into the company, reportedly failed. Artur Błasik, a party to the agreement, is a stock market investor who engages in prospective industries and companies in which he sees business and development potential. The financing provided was supposed to enable Zortrax to take advantage of opportunities related to the dynamic development of 3D printing.

At the time, Artur Błasik commented, “Zortrax is a company with great potential, global reach and its own research and development facilities. In my opinion, it is undervalued by the capital market. I believe that with the new financing structure it will be able to benefit from the dynamic development of the entire 3D industry.”

However, according to Slusarczyk, “both parties are [now] in a sharp dispute, which will probably not have a happy ending.” At the same time, Zortrax stated that it is already conducting talks with creditors, which promise to adopt an arrangement and quickly complete the proceedings. Zortrax said it will inform about the arrangement approval proceedings in appropriate reports.