Le Coq Sportif, in financial difficulties, has been placed in receivership, we learned on Friday. The sports equipment manufacturer says it wants to “protect its 330 employees and hundreds of indirect jobs”.
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The company Le Coq Sportif has been placed in receivership by the Paris commercial court, its parent company, Airesis, announced on Friday November 22, 2024. “Le Coq Sportif relies on this procedure to respond to the challenges facing the brand, while wanting to protect its 330 employees and hundreds of indirect jobs”indicates Airesis in a press release. The company, in difficulty, indicated in October that it was looking for “financing solutions”.
The headquarters of Le Coq Sportif are located in Romilly-sur-Seine, in Aube, a town historically renowned for its textile know-how. In the 1980s, the company had left Romilly. From 2010, it repatriated part of its production, then produced in Asia, to Aube. Its Aube factory now employs 170 people. Asked by France 3 Champagne-Ardenne, the various right-wing mayor of the town, Éric Vuillemin, refused to comment on the matter.
Airesis, which owns 75% of Le Coq Sportif, specifies that the equipment manufacturer had “requested the opening of a judicial recovery procedure with the Paris commercial court”. “This request was examined by the court during a hearing which confirmed the judicial recovery with an observation period of six months on the principle of continuity of operation”adds the press release.
“This recovery period is also an opportunity for the company to be able to initiate and finalize discussions with new investors and strategic partners in order to sustain its activity and strengthen its economic model,” details the company.
Airesis points out that “the objective is clear: capitalize on the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which has already demonstrated the ability of Le Coq Sportif to behave as a global brand, while retaining and promoting French industrial know-how, true pillars of the brand's identity.
According to its financial results for the first half published at the end of September, the group posted a loss of 18.2 million euros compared to a loss of 10.5 million in the first half of 2023, and 28.2 million for the entire last year.
Le Coq Sportif, which equipped the French delegation during the Olympic Games, also obtained a loan of 2.9 million euros in May 2024 from the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, of which 150 remained as of September 30. 000 euros to be reimbursed.
The group also obtained a loan of 12.5 million euros in July from the French State, through BPI France Assurance Export. The company is also in the middle of a dispute with the French Rugby Federation (FFR), which is claiming 5.3 million euros in unpaid amounts from its former supplier.
