Founder puts French discounter Gifi up for sale

French discounter Gifi is looking for a new owner. The founder hopes a new owner will rejuvenate the chain, which is no longer in optimal health itself….

More than normal succession?

At the age of seventy, and after forty-five years at the helm, founder Philippe Ginestet thinks it is time to hand over the reins. He has appointed merchant bank Lazard to find a buyer, French website L’Informé reports. However, what the owner is describing as a normal succession issue is making unions extremely worried.

The chain is in a major slump, employees are reported as saying: there would be payment arrears with suppliers and a lot of employees are leaving, whether under pressure or not. Weak consumer confidence – but also increased competition from players such as Action and Temu – poses structural challenges to the chain.

IT issues

In March, the retailer announced another debt restructuring, with the help of the French government. An ERP conversion last year proved much more complex than expected and caused operational problems, from stocking to monitoring results. Due to all those IT issues, sales plummeted 9 % in the key year-end period.

Muz-Alexandre Zouari, owner of the Maxi Bazar and Stokomani chains, is reportedly showing interest, but the company would not confirm this. Gifi managed a turnover of 1.3 billion euros last year in its 700 shops in seventeen countries. The chain also owns 70 % of Trafic.