(AOF) – As part of ongoing exclusive negotiations and following a favorable opinion from its social and economic committee, the LDLC group (company present in high-tech online markets) and Rue du Commerce (company in the online commerce sector in France – Shopinvest Group) announce the signing of the acquisition protocol for the Rue du Commerce business, subject to certain suspensive conditions including authorization from the competition authority. The finalization of this operation remains envisaged no later than June 30, 2024. The market will be informed of the progress of the project.
Over the calendar year 2023, the Rue du Commerce business represented a business volume of around 100 million euros, a third of which was generated by Galerie Marchande, for a turnover of around 70 million euros. ‘euros. It had around forty employees as of December 31, 2023.
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Concerns remain
According to the Federation of Specialized Trade, Procos, in October 2022, activity fell by 1.5% year-on-year. However, the activity of beauty and health (+ 5.2%) and specialized food (+ 3.5%) are dynamic compared to October 2021. Attendance at points of sale was very impacted by the problems fuel and unfavorable weather. Compared to October 2019, a pre-covid year, the drop in attendance is very sharp (-20.9% in October). Shopping centers and the outskirts are more impacted than city centers with a gap of four to five points.
There are several reasons for concern for the future. The players are experiencing a very significant jaws effect given the increase in their operating costs while the evolution of demand is very uncertain. Very few brands can pass on the increase in their costs in sales prices. The federation therefore asks, among other things, to limit the indexation of the Commercial Rent Index to + 3.5% for the rents of all companies in 2023. It also invokes an absolute emergency: cap the price of energy for 2023 and retroact on contracts already signed to prevent the rate of failures from accelerating.