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Conforama

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Conforama
Company typePublic
ISINNL0011375019
IndustryRetail
Founded12 December 1967; 56 years ago (1967-12-12) (in Saint-Priest, Rhône)
FounderPierre and Guy Sordoillet; Jean Moll and Jacques Ragageot
Headquarters
Lognes,
Seine-et-Marne
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Marc Ténart (Chairman)
Christophe Guégan (COO)
Products
  • Electronics
  • Home and furniture
  • Home improvement
  • Photo finishing
  • Craft supplies
  • Party supplies
RevenueIncrease US$2.570 billion (2017)[1]
OwnerSteinhoff International
French branches: BUT
Number of employees
13,500 worldwide (2018)
9,000 France (2018)
Websiteconforama.fr

Conforama is Europe's second-largest home furnishings retail chain with over 200 stores in France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy, and Croatia.

History and ownership

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In the early 1960s, Pierre and Guy Sordoillet, Jean Moll and Jacques Ragageot, supported by furniture dealers in the North and a Bordeaux manufacturer, Charles Minvielle, created a "Carrefour of furniture" by testing a discount formula in the outbuildings of an old farm in the suburbs of Lyon. In 1967, the first Conforama was opened in Saint-Priest, Rhône in a 2,500-square-metre industrial building.

In 1976, Conforama was acquired by Agache-Willot.

In 1981, the financial holding company experienced serious legal difficulties, and in 1991, Conforama was acquired by Pinault SA. Conforama set up its first commercial website in 1998.[2]

In March 2011, Conforama was sold by PPR to Steinhoff International, for a consideration of €1.2 billion.[3][4]

A Conforama store in Wallisellen, Switzerland in April 2012

In March 2016, Darty announced it had agreed to be purchased by Steinhoff for £673 million, through Conforama subsidiary.[5][6] Fnac returned with a higher offer, resulting in a bidding war between Fnac and Conforama during April 2016.[7] On 26 April, Conforama announced that it had dropped out in the battle for Darty.[8] The Fnac offer was declared unconditional on 19 July 2016, thereby allowing the takeover to be completed.[9] In September 2016, it was reported that Conforama and Casino had forged a supply purchase co-operation agreement.[10]

In April 2017, Conforama signed title sponsorship with France's Ligue 1. The deal, reportedly worth €10 million a season, started in the 2017–18 season and ended on 2019–20.[11] The next month, Conforama announced that it would take a 17% stake in the French number two in online clearance retail site Showroomprivé.fr in the amount of €157.4 million.[12] On 11 January 2018, this stake was urgently sold off on the orders of Steinhoff, which was suffering from its own accounting scandal. The proceeds of this sale to Carrefour amounted to €79m, a loss of 50%.[13]

Although the group had a net turnover of €3.4 billion in 2018, according to the parent company, they have accumulated losses of nearly €500 million ($564 million) since 2013. To that end, and to address the challenges in the retail sector, the company announced the departure of Frank Deshayes, general manager France, on 9 July 2019.[14] A major restructuring plan for 2020 that was announced in July 2019, involved the closure of 32 stores – including the chain's flagship store in Pont Neuf – and the loss of 1,900 jobs.[15][16]

In late September 2019, Conforama named Marc Ténart as the new general manager of the group.[17] Marc Ténart had formerly headed Kingfisher, the holding company of Castorama.[18][19]

In July 2020, Austrian furniture retailer XXXLutz Group acquired the 162 French branches of Conforama, through its French subsidiary BUT.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "chiffre d'affaires et résultats". www.infogreffe.fr. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Toutes les actus des magasins Conforama sur le site lsa-conso.fr". lsa-conso.fr (in French). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  3. ^ "PPR finalise la cession de Conforama au sud africain Steinhoff". Stratégies. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  4. ^ Godart, Nina (26 March 2016). "Qui est Steinhoff, le discret propriétaire de Conforama?". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Darty accepte le mariage avec Conforama et délaisse la Fnac". Le Figaro (in French). 18 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Steinhoff drops Home Retail bid; buys Darty". Financial Times. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  7. ^ Thomson, Adam; Massoudi, Arash (21 April 2016). "Fnac and Conforama trade rapid fire bids for France's Darty". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Fnac-Darty: Alexandre Nodale, PDG de Conforama, garde le sourire". Challenges (in French). 27 April 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Groupe Fnac Offer For Darty Declared Unconditional". Morning Star. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Retailers Casino and Conforama create French purchasing alliance". Reuters. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Conforama signs €10m title sponsorship with France's Ligue 1". InsideWorldFootball. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Conforama prend 17% du capital de Showroomprivé". Challenges. 12 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Showroomprive bondit en Bourse après l'entrée de Carrefour". Les Echos. 11 January 2018.
  14. ^ Caussil, Jean-Noël (10 July 2019). "Conforama : les syndicats de plus en plus inquiets après le départ du directeur général". LSA Conso.
  15. ^ Caussil, Jean-Noël (11 July 2019). "Conforama confirme 42 fermetures et 1900 postes supprimés". LSA Conso.
  16. ^ Torres, Anthony (5 July 2019). "Furniture retailer Conforama announces 1,900 job cuts in France in 2020". World Socialist Web Site.
  17. ^ "L'ex-patron de Castorama nommé à la tête de Conforama". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  18. ^ "Conforama: Marc Ténart nommé PDG pour mener à bien la restructuration du groupe". FIGARO. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  19. ^ Picard, Magali (24 September 2019). "Marc Ténart, ex Kingfisher, devient pdg de Conforama". LSA Conso (in French). Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  20. ^ "XXXLutz übernimmt französische Conforama". orf.at (in German). 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
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