Paris 2024 Olympic Games: delays, stock market listing suspended… Will Le Coq Sportif deliver the outfits for French athletes ?

Si les athlètes français sont déjà équipés en tenues d’entraînement, le retard commence à inquiéter pour les tenues officielles des JO. MAXPPP – Alexandre MARCHI

C’est le dernier sujet d’inquiétude autour de l’organisation des JO. Choisie pour honorer les commandes de tenues pour la délégation française et tous les arbitres officiels, l’entreprise française fait face à des difficultés diverses.

Will the athletes of the French delegation parade in their underwear on July 26th at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics?? We are obviously not there yet, but the subject is starting to cause serious concern.

The CNOSF says it is "reassured"

First, there was this announcement last week by the president of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF), David Lappartient, reporting a "slight delay" in the delivery of the French delegation's equipment. However, he said he had been "reassured" after meeting the equipment supplier in question, namely the French company Le Coq Sportif.

But we learned on Monday that the Swiss company Airesis, at the head of the Le Coq Sportif brand, was suspended from trading on the Swiss Stock Exchange due to the delay in publishing its annual results.

Unpublished annual results

At the end of April, the holding company of which Le Coq sportif is the main asset indicated that it had obtained a deadline to publish its annual report for the 2023 financial year. This deadline ran until May 31. But because it was not published on the allotted date, the Swiss Stock Exchange suspended trading in the share, the stock exchange operator indicated in a brief notice on its site.

370 000 pieces for the Olympics

Le Coq sportif, whose production factory is based in Romilly-sur-Seine (Aube), was chosen by Paris 2024 to dress French athletes in the village, on the podiums and in competition, except for certain federations such as football or athletics.

Also read: Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Kévin Mayer, Rénelle Lamote, Jean-Marc Pontvianne… discover the outfit of the French athletics team this summer

In total, the equipment manufacturer, which also outfits officials and referees, must deliver nearly 150,000 pieces for the athletes of the Paris Olympic Games but also 220,000 for referees.

Swiss shareholder in failing health

Founded in 1882, this hosiery company expanded into sport when Émile Camuset decided to make jerseys for his cyclist, footballer and rugby player friends. From 1948, the brand placed a logo on its equipment and took off in sport, first in the early 1950s by equipping riders for the Tour de France, then in the 1960s by dressing French athletes during of the Rome Olympics.

Airesis entered its capital in 2005 and now holds 78% of the shares. In the press release published at the end of April, the holding company based in Switzerland in Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva, explained that the work on closing the accounts had “had to be postponed due to various elements of the situation”. pending information".

A loan guaranteed by the State to last until the Games?

For 2022, Airesis reported a 4% increase in its turnover, to 149.7 million Swiss francs (153.5 million ;nbsp;millions of euros at current rates). But it remained in the red, with a loss attributable to shareholders of 2 million francs.

According to the economic magazine Challenge, over the first six months of 2023, losses approached 10 million euros, which required a loan guaranteed by the State given the strategic challenge of the company for the Olympics So ? Will the Olympics be the last challenge of a rooster running out of breath or will ;opportunity to fill up ?