(AOF) – The Pinault and Henriot families, owners respectively of Artémis Domaines and Maisons & Domaines Henriot, are pooling their wine estates. The rapprochement is significant. Artémis Domaines, owned by the Pinault family, owns Château Latour, 1er grand cru classé in Pauillac, Clos de Tart in Morey-Saint-Denis and the Eugénie estate in Vosne-Romanée in Burgundy, the Château Grillet vineyard in the valley du Rhône, or the Eisele Vineyard estate located in the Napa Valley in California, as well as a minority stake in Champagne Jacquesson.
For its part, the Maisons & Domaines Henriot family group owns Bouchard Père & Fils in Beaune, William Fèvre in Chablis, Maison Henriot in Champagne and Beaux-Frères in Oregon.
The new entity, which retains the name of Artémis Domaines, is majority owned by the Pinault family, alongside which the families that own Maisons & Domaines Henriot are minority shareholders.
It has a supervisory board chaired by Gilles de Larouzière Henriot and will be managed by Frédéric Engerer, managing director of Artémis Domaines with all the teams.
François Pinault, owner of Artémis Domaines, declares: “The merger of the properties of Maisons & Domaines Henriot and Artémis Domaines is a wonderful opportunity to bring together under the same banner the treasures of our wine heritage. It is the guarantee that a French group will ensure the long-term preservation of such gems and will pursue the quest for excellence that has marked their prestigious history.”
Gilles de Larouzière Henriot, CEO of Maisons & Domaines Henriot, says: “For the properties of our family group, this alliance is full of promise. With Artémis Domaines, we share a deep attachment to the exceptional wine heritage of France and the ambition to fully highlight the incomparable ensemble that we constitute by bringing together our estates. This operation is intended to be part of several generations, like the long time that makes great wines.”
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AOF – LEARN MORE
– Luxury group born in 1963, owner of the brands Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Yves-Saint-Laurent;
– Turnover of €17.6 billion achieved 44% in Asia-Pacific, 26% in North America and 23% in Europe%;
– Luxury “pure player” business model, based on growth exceeding that of the markets, on the creative autonomy of the Houses, the pooling of support functions and cross-functional expertise and the digital transformation at the service of distribution and client ;
– Capital controlled at 41.74% (58.44% of voting rights) by the Aremis holding company of the founding family, François-Henri Pinault being Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the 13-member Board of Directors and Jean-François Palus Director deputy general;
– Healthy balance sheet, with net debt of €168m compared to €13.7bn in shareholders’ equity, which was strengthened in January by the sale of the watchmaking activities.
Challenges
– Innovation strategy on 3 pillars: new business models, new materials and support functions / investment in companies with innovative business models, such as Vestiaire Collective, MIL laboratories for sustainable alternatives in jewelry and textiles, recourse to the blockchain to counter counterfeiting… / robustness of logistics infrastructures serving the customer experience: Luce application on product availability, virtual offer based on data, internalization of sites… / growth of e-commerce (15 % of sales in 2021);
– 2025 environmental strategy “Care for the planet”, reported in an environmental income statement: use resources in compliance with “planetary limits” and reduce the group’s CO2 emissions by 50% / work on the chain’s environmental impacts (CO2 emissions, water consumption, air and water pollution, waste production and land use) / create a “Supplier Sustainability Index” and raise the traceability of well- being animals, using chemicals / promoting “sustainable design” / creating Materials Innovation Lab (MIL) dedicated to Watches and Jewelry after that of fabrics and textiles / completing the offsetting of CO2 emissions) for biodiversity.
Challenges
– Strong dependence on Gucci, 1st revenue contributor and most profitable brand;
– Acceleration of the growth of YSL and Bottega Venetta and resistance of Gucci to confinements in China;
– Impact of the Russia-Ukraine war: very low, with the closure of 2 stores and 4 corners;
– 2021 dividend of €12 with deposit.
big concerns
According to the Federation of specialized trade, Procos, activity from January to May is very significantly down compared to the same period in 2019, at – 8.8%. Store traffic in May 2022 remained lower than in May 2019, but the decline was limited to 6.5%, much better than in April (-19.6% compared to April 2019). In a very uncertain context, several elements weigh on the profitability of companies, in particular the increase in the cost of electricity and the indexation of rents, even if the composition of the ILC (commercial rent index) has been modified. Previously it was composed of 50% inflation, 25% construction cost index and 25% change in retail turnover. From now on, it will only take into account inflation and the cost of construction because the previous formula included sales made by the ‘pure players’ of the Net, which increased the rents of physical stores.