Nexity, the leading French real estate developer, will put in place an employment protection plan (PSE) in 2024 to deal with the historic crisis in its core business, new real estate.
“The group has made the decision to initiate in the coming weeks the information-consultation process of the IRPs (staff representative bodies, Editor’s note), prior to the implementation of a job protection plan », Indicates in a press release Nexity, which has not yet defined how many jobs would be affected.
“We are going to adapt our business and our costs,” CEO Véronique Bédague told the press, adding: “If we want to produce affordable housing, we have to reduce costs.”
In 2023, the group experienced a difficult year, suffering from a halt in new construction, caused by rising construction costs and difficulties in accessing credit for buyers. Its accommodation reservations have eroded by 19% in number and 24% in valueeven if, underlines Nexity, it is better than the entire French market which fell by 26% in number.
No quantified objectives for 2024
Its turnover, down 9% to 4.27 billion euros, is slightly below its target of 4.3 billion, revised downwards in the middle of the year. The group is also refusing to pay a dividend to its shareholders, although until now it had wanted to offer them a payment of at least 2.50 euros per share.
To compensate for this year, which it describes as a “low point”, and to control its debt, the group has sold its Portuguese and Polish subsidiaries, and above all wants to offload its services branch. It announced at the end of 2023 that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the investment company Bridgepoint to sell it its property administration branch (trustee and rental management), valued at 440 million euros and which employs some 3,100 people, i.e. more than a third of its workforce.
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And it is still looking for buyers for its corporate real estate management and distribution activities.
Nexity has reduced its net debt from 820 to 776 million euros and has set itself the objective of bringing it below 500 million by the end of 2024. The group does not set any other quantified objectives for 2024waiting to see the evolution of interest rates and public policies, and hoping for “a rebound in 2025”.
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