Kathmandu has enacted its pandemic plan to combat the economic impact of COVID-19.
The retailer has closed all of its Australian stores and stood down its retail and the majority of its head office teams.
The redundant team members will go without pay for four weeks but will have access to leave entitlements and government assistance.
The closures come as Kathmandu witnesses the rapidly declining footfall to stores driven by the social distancing measures that have been imposed, as well as the need to ensure the health and safety of staff and customers.
The business' New Zealand stores and distribution centres were closed on March 24 in advance of the lockdown that commenced on March 25 and will continue for a period of at least 4 weeks, as mandated by the New Zealand Government.
All of the Group’s major head offices across the world are closed with staff working from home, in line with government regulation and/or best practice.
Kathmandu's other key regions including Brazil, North America and Europe are in a similar situation with stores, wholesale customers and offices closed due to government mandated closures or lockdowns.
In Kathmandu's European markets, employers are able to temporarily release staff while government funds the majority of employee salaries.
Meanwhile, employment is largely on an 'at will' basis in North America, allowing the business the flexibility to size the business according to demand.
While the pandemic had a minimal impact on earnings for the six months ending January 31 2020, Kathmandu expects a material adverse impact to earnings in the second half of this fiscal year.
In order to optimise savings over this period, Kathmandu is in discussions with landlords to achieve a fair rental outcome that sees the Group’s rental costs aligned to sales performance.
The business is also aggressively challenging all operating expenses and has made extensive cancellations to orders to reflect the current environment and subdued demand.
Senior management has also taken a 20% pay cut and the use of casual staff in retail networks and warehouses has been suspended.
Kathmandu is further exploring options with employees to continue on a reduced hours and salary basis.
Planned capital expenditure has been cancelled or deferred and the Board has also decided to suspend dividend payments until more normal trading conditions resume.
Kathmandu Holdings’ Group CEO Xavier Simonet expressed his thanks to his employees for their understanding.
"Our total focus is to protect the health and wellbeing of our teams and customers and ensure business continuity.
"I am so grateful to all our teams around the world for their resilience in this situation of uncertainty and challenges," he said.
Online retail in Australia, Europe and the USA continues as normal but is suspended in New Zealand following government guidelines.
It will not issue results today and announce a new date shortly.