The editorial team advises you
The social accounts of SAS Golf du Cognac indeed show a more than tense financial situation. Those for 2023, approved in March 2024 by the auditor (and published on the pappers.fr website), show a negative net result of €79,000. The fault lies in operating expenses higher than revenues.
“At this level, they are not obstacles but tree trunks! »
President of the Loisirs Solutions group, Christelle Cuioc admits these difficulties but tempers them. “When we took over, it was an association golf course not subject to VAT, which is no longer our case. To compensate, we should have increased contributions by 20%, which we did not do, preferring to amortize this additional cost and spread it over time so as not to impact club members,” she explains.
Which, in fact, impacted the company's accounts in 2023 and 2024, also weighed down by the dismissal of the director and the takeover of the restaurant, “with a payroll that took time to control”, specifies the president.
“Employees, our priority”
Not to mention the climatic hazards – the drought in 2023, the rain this year – which impacted attendance at the 18-hole course, the increase in costs (maintenance, energy) “and lots of little things that we discovered and that “We had to get things back on track for it to work,” observes Jean-Sébastien Muet, the general director of Loisirs Solutions, hardly helped by “the rumors and the tripping up that we've suffered. At this level, they are not obstacles but tree trunks! »
For the rest, he assures that the 18 golf employees have “always been paid”. “If the case had arisen, the managers would have been paid after the employees, they are our priority,” assures the general director.
The number of practitioners is not decreasing but is still a little short of reaching financial balance.
CL
And it is with confidence that the group is planning for 2025, having just sold one of its four golf courses (that of Domaine d'Allot in Agen), to better “concentrate its strengths and refocus all its action on three golf courses closer geographically”, now united around a new brand, Émeraude Expérience. That of Cognac, therefore, that of La Prèze, also in difficulty, and the Domaine des Forges golf course, in Deux-Sèvres.
The editorial team advises you
“2025 will be a good year with a turnaround for golf,” assures Jean-Sébastien Muet. We have just launched the season, the figures are good in terms of subscriptions and turnover. »
Christmas “cash” operation
It must be said that the club has nevertheless increased the membership fee this year. “It jumped by 11% compared to last year, to reach €1,670 per year,” points out a member of the club. In need of cash, the golf course took advantage of the Christmas holidays to offer a “flash sale” on December 5, with a subscription offer of €1,300 reserved for 40 people. Like others, this golfer took advantage. “By 8:30 a.m., there were already 25 of us in line. It was the farandole of checks and credit cards. But it looked more like a desperate flash sale from a golf course in dire straits,” he notes. Result, more than €52,000 collected in one morning.
Enough, indeed, to start off on the right foot in 2025. “We will offer this type of offer at other times of the year, the important thing is to get people to come to the golf course,” promises Jean-Sébastien Muet, who announces new products for the start of the year. “With new, more modern, spacious and bright premises. The reception and shop, installed in place of the former pro-shop, will offer redesigned services to meet expectations. »
Outside, too, there will be changes, “with renovated woodwork, modern shades in the parking lot which will help to control our energy consumption”.
(1) Composed of an 18-hole course, a 6-hole course, a large driving range, 2 putting greens and a set of buildings hosting the services (restaurant, clubhouse, pro-shop, etc.) .
Pool resources with the Prèze golf course
If the situation of the Cognac golf course is complicated, that of the Prèze international golf course, located in Charente Limousin, on the border of the departments of Haute-Vienne and Dordogne, is even more alarming, with accounts in the red ( -€281,600 at the end of 2022). A situation that the Loisirs Solutions group has been working to rectify ever since. “It’s a golf course where there is work to be done on the course but where we have a lot of difficulty finding staff. » Also, the group intends to “pool resources”, in particular by making available to Prèze the services of Cognac’s green keeper, David Bianvet, and gardeners (Cognac has seven, compared to two for Prèze), but also the machines. “There is 1h15 between the two golf courses, it’s completely playable. »
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