Shares in Brazilian electronics and appliances retailer Via Varejo collapsed on Thursday, falling over 11% in morning trading, after reporting a loss of 638 million reais ($117.47 million) in the third quarter on expensive labor liabilities. The company said that the average value of lawsuits grew 32% between 2020 and 2021 compared to the 2019-2020 period, and that the number of new lawsuits against the company soared 82% in the first half of 2021 compared to the first semester of last year. As a result, the company set aside 2.5 billion reais at the end of September, up from a provision of 1.2 billion reais in June. Via said these labor liabilities are related to lay-offs it has conducted since 2011 to boost profitability and added it has hired a consulting firm to help it manage the legal claims. In a conference with analysts, company executives said there was no need for a fresh stock offering or other measures to pay for the labor claims, citing a strategy to offset the impact of higher provisions with monetization of tax credits.