(AOF) – Thermador announces that its turnover for the first quarter of 2024 fell by 17.2%, to 141 million euros. This decline can be explained by several phenomena. The activity of those involved in the energy renovation of buildings is at half mast, following the delay in setting up the new organization for the allocation of subsidies provided for in the MaPrimeRénov’ program. In addition, the heavy rainfall at the start of the year was not favorable to its sales of irrigation pumps.
The French new housing market is at its lowest. Those in the DIY and swimming pool sectors continue to decline.
“The price increase of 9.6% over the first three months of 2023 turned around much more quickly than expected and we measure an average drop of 1.9% in our prices at the end of March 2024,” explains Thermador.
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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.