France Loisirs to stay in business, seeking new investor

The Paris Commercial Court has authorised a plan to allow the France Loisirs book club, with its 200 retail outlets and 1,300 employees across France, to remain in business, according to press reports.
 
The company, which is owned by Actissia and four sister service subsidiaries, went into receivership in November partly because an unnamed investor backtracked on a pledge to bring €20m to the table. France Loisirs has lost about €20m a year for the past four years, and continues to lose money despite cutting costs by €30m both last year and this year, the daily newspaper Le Monde reported. The book industry’s bleak sales performance in the first half helped widen the losses to €17m in January-May, instead of the slated €7m, Actissia chairman and c.e.o. Adrian Diaconu was quoted as saying. Actissia reported sales of €217m in 2016.
 
France Loisirs is now focussing on the core book business, having halted distance and supermarket sales as well as its diversification into beauty products. For the past year, the bookshops have sold titles from numerous publishers on top of those produced by France Loisirs, Livres Hebdo reported. Diaconu hopes to attract a new investor and says he has received enquiries from three groups. Chapitre.com and Actissia subsidiaries in Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec are excluded from the receivership.