The health crisis has impacted economically on many sectors of activity and, with Covid-19 continuing to cause damage, it is impossible to measure the real fallout from the shock. Almost all the events having been canceled or postponed indefinitely since mid-March and the confinement, Jean-Claude Dehaut, director of Stratège, specialist in the provision of technical services for the event, had thus, before this week- end, “hardly anything billed since mid-March, so almost no cash flow”.
Six complicated months for the Toulouse company which usually organizes “between 50 and 60 events” a year. Very varied events, “from the service at 500 euros, up to major events billed up to several tens of thousands of euros”.
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Hard for intermittents
Despite the scale of the crisis, the four employees of Stratège, all on permanent contracts, are still there. “State aid made it possible to place them on short-time work, and other aid like the PGE was invaluable. We were well supported, ”explains Jean-Claude Dehaut. On the other hand, as with any business, “fixed charges have always had to be paid, which for us represents an amount of 15,000 to 20,000 euros per month”.
But Jean-Claude Dehaut is not the type to feel sorry for himself: “Our company has existed for 30 years. The worst is for the younger companies, and for all intermittents… ”. Because if Stratège only hires four people directly, “we can make up to more than ten intermittents work on a demonstration. However, since mid-March, these people no longer have a job ”.
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Economic improvement with two events
In this gloomy panorama, however, the economic upturn has been pointing its nose for ten days. First with the programming of “city gardens, gardens of life” in Montaigu Park, between Jarville and Laneuveville. An improvement cooled by the appalling weather conditions, “but the Greater Nancy maintained, it must be emphasized that we are really supported by the local communities”.
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The second highlight took place this weekend with “Lorraine is formidable”. A great gastronomic, artisanal and heritage event, which took place at the Château de Lunéville. “The event would have been completely canceled, it would have been a disaster: the event represents more or less 50% of our turnover for the year”, blows Jean-Claude Dehaut.
Unfortunately, the two-day organization had to be cut short due to the weather, and was held only on Saturday. “Obviously, we weren’t able to reach the 35,000 visitors in 2019, but we were able to make the event and that’s already a relief given the context. The coming months remain worrying for our sector. But, I prefer to stay positive. ”
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