Three years after its last rescue, Duralex has once again been placed in receivership. The Orléans commercial court (Loiret) rendered its decision on Wednesday April 24, with an observation period of six months. The goal is to try to find a buyer, with the next meeting set for June 5, 2024. In twenty years, this is the fourth time that the future of Duralex and its 230 employees has been played out on the green carpet. , and with each episode, the equation becomes more complicated.
Famous for its ultra-solid canteen glasses, the glassworks, located in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, in the agglomeration of Orléans, has been since 2021 in the hands of La Maison française du verre, which also operates Pyrex in Châteauroux (Indre ). Backed by the European investment fund Kartesia, it took over Duralex in court, and its project, considered solid, had aroused great hope at the time.
“We were proud to be taken over by another glassmaker, we believed in it and we told ourselves that we were finally going to get through itsummarizes an employee, quality team leader, employed at Duralex for 26 years. For us it’s a massive blow, and we are all the more disappointed. »
An impossible recovery in 2022
The new boss had committed to investing 17 million euros over three years to relaunch the activity, all without social disruption. But the company was quickly overtaken by the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. In 2022, glassmaking, which consumes a lot of electricity and gas, saw its bills soar. Stunned by a supply contract with very unfavorable conditions, it ended up calling on the State for help.
Bercy granted it a loan of 15 million euros, and Duralex stood by by putting its oven on standby for five months to limit the damage. The company then hoped to get back on better footing but once again, nothing went as planned. Inflation and the drop in consumption have slowed sales. The 2023 turnover peaked at less than 26 million euros, down from the 29.4 million reached in 2022.
In this turbulent context, the challenge of turning Duralex around proved impossible to meet. Management preferred to throw in the towel “in order to preserve the interests of the company”. “Despite operational efforts and continued investments, the losses could not be stemmed”the company said in a press release, without giving the extent of the deficit.
A succession of crises
This failure is added to the long list of setbacks that Duralex has suffered since the end of the 1990s. Before its descent into hell, its tempered glass tableware, cheap and resistant to shocks, had been popular in canteens and restaurants. cafes, and conquered foreign markets. Some of its models have even become iconic, such as the famous Gigogne glass or the timeless Picardie.
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