It is a mobilization that has nothing to do with pension reform. The 750 employees of the 26 Galeries Lafayette stores say they are worried about the financial situation of their parent company HPB (Hermione People & Brands), owned by businessman Michel Ohayon, several of whose brands are in great difficulty.
The staff representatives of Hermione Retail, the company bringing together the Galeries Lafayette of the Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon, denounce a lack of transparency from the management and call for massive walkouts on Tuesday. For its part, the CFDT, the first union within the Hermione Retail group, called on its employees to disengage on Tuesday. The central CFDT union delegate within the group, Muriel Scanzi, explained that the walkout was to take place next Tuesday, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
No planned closure promises HPB
Hermione Retail owns 26 Galeries Lafayette stores spread over “over the whole of French territory”. These franchises were bought from the family group Galeries Lafayette in 2018. “There is no plan to close the store in the Galeries Lafayette affiliated stores under Hermione Retail, neither recorded nor under consideration”assured a spokesperson the day after a call for a walkout from one of the group’s unions.
This is not the first time that staff representatives have expressed their concerns. They had already exercised their right to alert in December to obtain information on the HPB situation. “One month after the launch of this procedure, the management refuses to communicate the documents requested by the expert on the company’s cash flow or the justification of the flows with the holding company” HPB, the staff representatives regretted in a press release on Thursday.
“Overall, Hermione Retail’s business performance is good”assured the HPB spokesperson, and the group is not “not far from having regained its pre-2019 performance”. The requested documents are: transmitting “, he said.
The stores located in Agen, Amiens, Angoulême, Bayonne, Beauvais, Belfort, Besançon, Caen, Cannes, Chalon-sur-Saône, Chambéry, Dax, La Roche-sur-Yon, La Rochelle, Libourne, Lorient, Montauban, Niort, Rouen, Saintes, Tarbes and Toulon, acquired in 2018 by Michel Ohayon. In these cities, HPB promised to boost the commercial offer with a solution ” all in one “since the entity owns general brands (Galeries Lafayette), but also specialized sports, toys or textiles.
Suspicious financial movements
But HPB and its other brands have been in the news for other reasons in recent weeks. Camaïeu, a former northern flagship of ready-to-wear, was abruptly liquidated at the end of September, leaving more than 2,000 employees on the floor. As for Go Sport, it has been placed in receivership in recent weeks, while waiting for buyers to come forward by March 10.
Gap France is also part of the galaxy of brands taken over by Michel Ohayon and raises questions from Go Sport employees. They are surprised by some 36 million euros in cash from their sign, financially in bad shape, to HPB. Indeed, HPB had for its part announced in mid-January “the acquisition of Gap France by Go Sport” for 38 million. A year earlier Gap had been bought for one euro.
Alerted by these precedents, the CFDT, CGT, CFE-CGC and CFTC Galeries Lafayette unions observe that “the projects that had been announced are at a standstill, the workforce is reduced to a minimum” and “the blocking of deliveries of goods for a few days further reinforces the fears of staff representatives about the sustainability of the company and its 750 jobs”.
Apart from HPB, three other holding companies, having invested in the hotel industry, of the businessman Michel Ohayon were placed in receivership following the non-reimbursement of more than 200 million euros in loans, at Bank in China.