Hemp and tobacco company went bankrupt: Switzerland’s “homeland” cigarettes burned

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The fire of Switzerland’s homeland cigarettes is running out. The cannabis cigarette company Koch & Gsell in Steinach SG went bankrupt. The company produced the famous CBD cigars.

Founded in 2015, the cigarette company is known for launching the world’s first legal hemp tobacco cigarette in 2017, relying on tobacco of Swiss origin. Cigarettes industrially produced from pure CBD hemp followed in 2019. The company patented the processes used for production.

“Various last-minute rescue attempts failed, so the only option was to file for bankruptcy,” said Roger Koch, the company’s founder and CEO. However, the CEO emphasized that all employees are paid their wages and benefits at all times. In 2020, the company had twelve employees.

We are already on the spin course in 2019

In 2019, the company ran into financial difficulties and had to apply for a debt moratorium. Investments in research and development, machinery, as well as national and international expansion, had led to massive over-indebtedness. Bankruptcy was finally averted in 2020.

Now, three years later, some things still remain. St. Gallen company has a liquidity problem. No donors could be found and shareholders were not prepared to contribute further capital. As a result, the tobacco license was lost in November 2023. Without this license, Koch & Gsell would lose almost half of its total sales. This did not prevent him from filing for bankruptcy.

What will happen next is not yet known. For Chief Executive Koch, a fresh start could be considered that would focus solely on the high-margin hemp business and products such as hemp iced tea. “We have a tremendous amount of knowledge, know-how, recipes and a world-wide registered patent,” he concludes. (SDA/wgr)

Source :Blick