The ongoing recession and some management blunders have taken their tool on the Woodstock, Connecticut-based soap and lotion seller Crabtree & Evelyn Ltd, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday! The filing does not include the company’s operations outside the US.

The company reported in its court filing that, as of March 31, its debt figures stood at $46.2 million, while it had $31.7 million in assets.

Crabtree & Evelyn - which is a unit of Britain's Crabtree & Evelyn Holdings Ltd, and is owned by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad – said that it intends using the court’s protection for re-settling the terms of leases with the presently-disinclined landlords; and thus restructuring itself to emerge from bankruptcy.

In a court filing, Stephen Bestwick – the Acting President of Crabtree & Evelyn - said that the company had to resort to bankruptcy due to the increasing pressure of repaying its debt. He added that the wholesale business of the company had suffered a blow because of a number of shifts in policies, resulting from the changes in management.

Bestwick elaborated that the key changes in the company’s strategy included decisions like lower sales to wholesale accounts, and a “disconnect” between executive pay and performance. He said: “These challenges, combined with its recent declining revenues and operating losses, have severely impacted the debtor's ability to operate successfully.”