The Belgian distributor Colruyt announced Monday that 889 maximum employees “would probably be fired for economic reasons” as part of the sale of their 104 stores in France.
The Belgian brand located in France since 1998 uses almost 2,300 employees in France, mainly in the quarter of the Northeast.
The Les Mousquetaires/Intemché distribution group has committed last week to acquire 81 of these stores for a total amount of around 215 million euros.
This recovery project “implies the automatic transfer of 1,319 employees,” said Colruyt in a statement on Monday.
104 stores in France
But another 24 stores (one of which are not open) “would not resume,” says Colruyt, who claims to carry out “an active investigation of additional buyers for sites that have not been taken” and that “several brands of interest have been received (…)”.
“In total, this would imply the abolition of 950 jobs,” the Belgian group told AFP.
Among these, “the maximum number of employees that will probably be ruled out for economic reasons would be 889,” according to the press release.
The headquarters, located in Rochefort-Sur-nenon (Jura), is not part of the project to take care of the Mousquetaires group, the third player in the sector in France.
“A work safeguarding plan is preparing with social partners,” added the Belgian brand.
Colruyt Retail France last April mentioned “difficult conditions in the very competitive French market in food distribution”, emphasizing that “despite the important efforts in the profitability of its French activities, the expected results were not (they had been achieved.”
Source: BFM TV
