The parent company of Le Coq Sportif makes more losses

Airesis, the Swiss parent company of Le Coq Sportif, chosen to supply the kits for the French teams at the Paris Olympics, announced on Wednesday that it would make a loss of 36 million Swiss francs (37 million euros) in 2023 and again postponed publication of its full annual figures.

Its boss, Marc-Henri Beausire, was nevertheless reassuring, telling Les Echos that there was "absolutely no immediate risk of the company going bankrupt," despite recent doubts about Le Coq Sportif's ability to deliver the ordered outfits on time.

The French brand was chosen in 2024 by the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games to supply kits for almost all the French athletes on the podiums and in the competition, as well as the officials and referees in the Olympic Village. A handful of federations, such as football and athletics, are not included in the agreement.

Airesis, which owns 78% of Le Coq Sportif, lost 2 million Swiss francs in 2022 on sales of almost 150 million Swiss francs.

According to unaudited figures published on Wednesday, sales fell to 121 million. Operating profit, which will barely be positive in 2022, will sink into the red with a loss of 20 million Swiss francs.

The company has also obtained a new deadline from the regulator of the Swiss Stock Exchange to publish its full annual figures, now promised before June 30. The previous deadline, which had already been extended, was May 31.

In the absence of publication by this deadline, trading in the share has been suspended since Monday.

Shareholders' equity, at CHF 68 million on December 31, 2023, “is solid”, explains the holding company, which says the second extension of the deadline is due to “important discussions on the international deployment of the brand and the associated valuation.”

"In addition, transactions are currently under negotiation and cannot be announced at this time," Airesis points out in a press release.

On Tuesday, Le Coq Sportif, which has 363 employees including 147 at its Romilly-sur-Seine (Aube) factory, gave assurances that all the federations would be supplied before the Games.

Le Coq sportif's economic difficulties are nothing new. The brand almost disappeared in the 1990s, before being bought by Airesis in 2005 and relaunched in Romilly, becoming the supplier to the French national team again in 2018.