“In six years, I injected 30 million euros into France Loisirs, a project that was close to my heart. The transformation of the business has almost come to an end, but has been too slow, and the Covid pandemic–19 knocked us out ”, explain to World Adrian Diaconu, president of Actissia, parent company of this book club, which has only 800,000 members.
The turnover of this integrated group (both publisher, printer, distributor, call center and logistics) fell by 22% in 2020 compared to 2019, to 65.8 million euros. However, the plunge has continued at least at the same pace since the start of the year. At the same time, the company’s losses are getting worse. “After 8 million euros of deficit in the first half, the months of July and August generated 6 million euros of losses”, notes Mr. Diaconu.
Once again, France Loisirs is looking for a buyer. After a declaration of suspension of payments, on September 29, at the Paris Commercial Court, the company, which has a thousand employees with its subsidiaries, was placed, by a judgment of October 25, in compulsory liquidation, but, rare fact, with a continuation of activity, precisely to be able to find a buyer. Wednesday, November 10, two serious takeover offers, but insufficient, were offered to Hélène Bourbouloux, judicial administrator in charge of this case. The court will have to rule in early December.
Competition from Amazon, Cultura and Leclerc
Created in 1970 by Bertelsmann and the Presses de la Cité, this book club, which has had up to 2 million members, has repeatedly avoided bankruptcy. In March 2015, when Adrian Diaconu, CEO of International Technology Solutions, a Luxembourg company diversified in drones, the security of connected objects and artificial intelligence, took over Actissia, the group was adrift and riddled with debt. The buyer refocused the store network on books, ending the sale of beauty and cosmetic products – a diversification that had failed.
Competition from Amazon, but also that of Cultura and Leclerc bookstores, has made obsolete a model which consisted in selling at least five books per year to subscribers. Even if it means automatically sending titles that they had not requested to those who had not placed their order early enough.
Despite an attempt to relaunch France Loisirs, which still had 250 million euros in turnover in 2015 and more than 2,000 employees, Adrian Diaconu had to file for bankruptcy for the first time in December 2017. The company came out of his receivership in 2019, and Adrian Diaconu, still at the head of the group after the approval of his continuation plan by the court, ended the systematic sending of books to subscribers.
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