In difficulty since the energy crisis of 2022, the French glassmaker Duralex “requested the opening of a judicial recovery procedure for its benefit with the Orléans commercial court”announced the company New Duralex International (NDI), operator of the famous brand, on Tuesday April 16.
“The objective is to look for a buyer for NDI, thus aiming to find the best solution for the company”, which employs 230 people in its historic factory in Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret), informs the company. Before adding that“an administrator and a legal representative should be appointed by the court to assist the company during the observation period which should open”.
Duralex had suffered the full brunt of the surge in gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and had been temporarily saved by a state loan of 15 million euros, which had made it possible to reopen its glass furnace and restart its production after five months of closure.
“New difficulties emerged” last year
However, in fiscal year 2023, “new difficulties have emerged”attributable to inflation, a consumer environment “in sharp decline” and to a “exacerbated competition”specifies the company, adding that, “despite operational efforts and continued investments, the losses could not be stemmed.”
At the same time, NDI says it has “faced with a decision from the Orléans administrative court concerning the rights to pollute of the former owner of Duralex”considering that she was “payable for the quotas owed by the former operator”. This judgment “delivered mid-March”against which the company has announced its intention to appeal, “seriously compromises the financial health of NDI and its ability to maintain its activities in a sustainable manner”says the press release.
“It’s always a bit sad”regretted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the elected CGT, François Dufranne, who ensures that employees “didn’t expect it.”
“ Three weeks, a month ago, we were given a presentation telling us the objectives, the products we were going to develop, etc. Quite a speech and, a month later, we held an extraordinary CSE meeting to tell us that we were going to put the company into receivership”laments the trade unionist again, before adding: “Now we’re going to keep our fingers crossed that there will be a buyer. »
In Bercy, the Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, who had come for the reopening of the ovens, declared that the State “would do everything possible to try to bring about recovery solutions”. “We are counting on local stakeholders to mobilize alongside us in this research”he reacted to AFP in a brief press release.
Duralex, founded in 1945, invented tempered glass and glasses used both in school canteens and by trendy restaurants. The company achieved an annual turnover of 29.4 million euros in 2022. Pyrex, an entity separate from Duralex operated jointly within the French Glass House, “continues its activities as usual”it is specified in the press release.