Trial
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The overseas distribution giant, accused of making exorbitant margins in the midst of a crisis, could be forced to publish its annual results, thanks to the action brought by four citizens in the commercial court. The hearing takes place this Thursday, December 19 in Fort-de-France.
It is a group as discreet in mainland France as it is powerful in overseas territories. A sprawling multinational with a turnover of at least 4.5 billion euros, present in mass distribution, industry, agriculture and the automobile sector, whose colossal profits are regularly singled out to explain the high cost of living, particularly in the Antilles. This empire is made up of three letters: GBH, for Groupe Bernard Hayot, named after this béké (white Creole descendant of slave-owning settlers) from Martinique whose family legend says that he began by raising chickens on his native island in the 1960s , before expanding its activities exponentially and expanding to Guadeloupe, Guyana, Reunion, Mayotte, New Caledonia and more recently to Africa, Latin America and China.
While GBH maintains the greatest opacity around its real profits overseas, four citizens committed to transparency in public life have filed an action before the commercial court of Fort-de-France (Martinique), in order to compel the group to publish its accounts. A unique procedure. Until now, its leaders preferred to pay a paltry fine of 1,500 euros rather than comply with the law. But
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