the essential
Specialist in bay blocks for windows and roller shutters, the company from Marssac-sur-Tarn, Compobaie has just been placed in liquidation. It employs 86 employees.
Compobaie. This name is well known to the Tarnais. Specializing in the creation of concrete bay blocks for windows and roller shutters, the company supplied numerous construction sites. Today, that time is over. After a period of judicial recovery, the commercial court has just recorded its liquidation.
This closure represents a major ordeal for the group's 86 employees, mainly based in Marssac-sur-Tarn. They will find themselves unemployed on December 13, the date on which the company will permanently cease its activity.
The company was created in 1989 by Jacques Anglade, then sold in 2009 to an investment fund. But the financial situation deteriorated and the Anglade family returned to control of Compobaie in 2020.
“This is where we made a strategic error. We accepted the assets and liabilities of the company so as not to stop the ongoing projects. We ended up with a debt that we dragged around like a ball and chain “, summarizes director Séverine Anglade. A debt that is difficult to repay in this period, where difficulties follow one another: Covid, rise in the price of energy and raw materials, market gloom.
End of activity on December 13
To deal with this, management took the decision to close its Yssingeaux site and launch a social plan, with partial unemployment. “It took three months to put it in place. As a result, we had to pay some of our staff to do nothing for a quarter,” emphasizes Séverine Anglade. Consequence: debts increase. The company declares itself in cessation of payments. A judicial recovery procedure was opened in January, with the Albi commercial court.
“We were starting to find an economic model, in a complicated building and housing market. We ran out of time,” laments the director, who retains a bitter taste of this judicial liquidation, pronounced on November 26. “I'm angry. The commercial court is supposed to help and advise. This was not the case. It spent the time reproaching us for a situation that we knew perfectly well.” And, according to her, there is no question of finding a contractor in such a short time: “It’s impossible in the industry.”
As the company experiences its final days, the director wants to remain optimistic. “Our process is known and recognized. I hope that this know-how will not disappear.” She also has a thought for the 86 Compobaie employees, who continue to work hard. “I have great employees who deliver products to construction sites until the last day. I am proud of this state of mind.”
