The Grenoble Commercial Court on Thursday placed the sporting goods distributor Groupe Go Sport in receivership. “By a well-reasoned judgment, the court (…) noted the state of cessation of payments of the company Groupe Go Sport and opened proceedings for receivership”, announced the Grenoble prosecutor’s office in a press release. He clarified that “Go Sport France has not been declared insolvent, but its situation will be impacted by that of its parent company”.
This announcement comes in a heavy climate for the thousands of employees of the sports store group. On Wednesday, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened a preliminary investigation for “abuse of social good”. The employees of Go Sport, and especially their union representatives and the central social and economic committee (CSEC), were worried about the financial health of the group, being alarmed in particular by a rise of 36 million euros in cash from Go Sport to its parent company, the HPB group (Hermione, People & Brands).
Go Sport, founded in 1978 and based in Sassenage in the suburbs of Grenoble, had been taken over by HPB at the end of 2021 for a symbolic euro from the parent company of the Casino food distribution group, the Rallye company, itself heavily in debt.
Loss-making since ” seventeen years “, according to HPB, Go Sport faces stiff competition from Decathlon and Intersport in France. Despite several recovery plans, a succession of six general managers in fifteen years and the use of a restructuring firm, Prospheres, to prepare for its sale in 2020, Rallye has never managed to value it.