the essential
The Gifi company, which employs 6,500 people across the country, is continuing its discussions with its creditors. Its founder and historical leader, Philippe Ginestet, denounced “the wind of rumors” among the group's employees in a letter that The Dispatch was able to consult.
“This company that I created and to which I have dedicated my life for 43 years must survive me in the best conditions.” These words are those of Philippe Ginestet, the founder of the Gifi brand, published in a letter to the group's employees that The Dispatch was able to consult. Thursday, November 14, the 70-year-old business leader at the head of a veritable empire, whose headquarters is still located in Villeneuve-sur-Lot (Lot-et-Garonne), wanted to temper tempers after the disclosure information from the site L'Informé and the newspaper Le Monde: he would have mandated a bank to find a buyer.
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“At a time when we are all mobilized to have a great end to the year, as if by chance, the wind of rumors is hitting us again. My absolute priority, as I have already told you several times, is “is to ensure the future of Gifi”, insists Philippe Ginestet. The discounter with 600 stores and 6,500 employees across the country – including 650 at the Villeneuve-sur-Lot headquarters – announced just a few months ago “a 2023 turnover of 1.3 billion euros” and data which started to rise again after the Covid crisis. The Gifi group has experienced several headwinds in recent years. The main thing: a computer switch.
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Opening of capital
“Once again […] they are trying to destabilize us even though I am doing everything possible to rectify a situation whose origins we all know, namely the shift in our computer system” continues Philippe Ginestet in this letter. It is since this change in software that management – which created a situation of chaos both in the Lot-et-Garonne offices and in the brand's stores – that support from the banks was negotiated by the group. then entrusted a group executive with purchasing. stores, the tools were stranded, a “black screen” which had direct consequences on the supply of the shelves. “They were penalized for several weeks. We weren't far from manual management.” Stores lacking items, shelves sometimes empty, and mechanically a drop in turnover for all brands.
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Following this episode, last February, a meeting was organized between Gifi and its creditors, under the aegis of the interministerial committee for industrial restructuring, attached to Bercy. Repeatedly in recent days. The Lazard bank would have been mandated by the boss of Gifi, according to our colleagues in Le Monde. The evening daily reveals that on Monday November 18, it must “receive offers, non-binding at this stage, from the candidates”. Several names are then mentioned, names which would be at the origin of this “destabilization”. “It’s not a sale, but rather an opening of capital,” says an observer contacted by The Dispatch. The business world does not give gifts. Especially since the Christmas period is particularly important for the figures of the Lot-et-Garonnaise company. Those close to Philippe Ginestet assure that everything is in place to “rebound”, while reassuring the creditors. “As a responsible boss, he is preparing for the future, with solid financiers.”
