Petit Bateau, famous children’s ready-to-wear brand, is for sale

Wishing to refocus on its core business, cosmetics, the Rocher group, owner of the Yves Rocher brand, announced on Wednesday that it wanted to sell Petit Bateau, a children’s ready-to-wear brand that it has owned since 1988.

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“At this stage, we have zero buyers”

The Breton group explained in a press release that it wanted to “initiate a process of selling the children’s fashion and home care divisions, with the Petit Bateau and Stanhome brands”.

“Today, we have the financial means to instill a new dynamic, by focusing our investments to develop the potential of our skincare, beauty and well-being brands,” declares the group’s executive general director, Jean-David Schwartz, cited in the press release.

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The group, which owns the cosmetics brands Yves Rocher, Arbonne, Sabon and Docteur Pierre Ricaud “will take the time to examine the recovery options which could offer” Petit Bateau and Stanhome, “a solid future, with interlocutors led by a vision of growth and sustainability”.

“At this stage, we have zero buyers,” declared Bris Rocher, president of the group, in an interview with Ouest-France. “We are only initiating the process and it will take a little time (…) I don’t have a timetable. It can be done quickly, or it can take a long time. The idea is is that for these two assets it is an exit from the top,” he adds.

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The Petit Bateau brand has 370 points of sale (including 200 internationally) and 760 retailers (including 500 outside France). It produces 28 million parts each year and generates 55% of its turnover in France, 25% in Europe outside France and 10% in Japan, the press release specifies.

“With a turnover of 250 million euros in 2024, Petit Bateau is growing this year by 3% worldwide and 7% in France in a suffering textile sector,” according to Bris Rocher. “Obviously we will be vigilant about the choice of buyer and the question of jobs,” explains Bris Rocher, “but I don’t want to lull people into illusions. That’s not how it works in real life.” .

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France represents a quarter of Yves Rocher’s budget

To refocus on cosmetics, Rocher approved in September the sale of its Ploërmel factory in Morbihan, which produced perfumes, and also sold the Flormar makeup brand. “When my grandfather launched the Yves Rocher brand, he did it through care products,” recalls Bris Rocher, “the heart of the expertise, it is well focused on the care category (face, body, capillaries, etc.)”.

“We are not abandoning perfume, but we are not going to overinvest in this area,” he adds. “The investment will reside largely in research,” announces the president of Rocher but also in the renovation of 200 of the 650 Yves Rocher stores in France.

The country represents 25% of the group’s turnover, which amounts to 2.2 billion euros in 2024, an increase of 2.4% over one year, distributed at 53% for the Yves Rocher brand, 13% for Arbonne. , 6% for Sabon, 2.5% for Dr Pierre Ricaud, 12% for Petit Bateau and 9% for Stanhome.

Yves Rocher plans to open “more than 150” stores in Asia and the Middle East. Asked about the group’s presence in Russia, Bris Rocher believes that its “teams have no responsibility in the political and military decisions taken by the Russian government.”

“My first responsibility as an employer is to support my teams, wherever they are in the world,” he says, noting that Rocher is also present in Ukraine.

The Breton group also announces the arrival of two “new independent directors” to the board of directors: Paul Polman, former boss of Unilever from 2009 to 2019 and Elisabeth Sandage, former global president of the Helena Rubinstein brand.

Founded in 1959 by Yves Rocher, the group is present in 118 countries through 2,500 stores as well as via the Internet.