PPR lets Fnac float in 2013

Fnac
on the stock market in 2013

PPR
bought Fnac eighteen years ago, but put the chain up for sale 3.5
years ago after the company decided to focus entirely on the
luxury goods segment (with its brands like Gucci, Yves Saint-Laurent
and Bottega Veneta) and sports (Puma). However, selling Fnac in a
period of crisis, declining sales of CDs and growing competition from
the Internet turned out to be not as easy as it looks.

A
flotation should finally solve the issue, much like it did for
Carrefour and its former discount branch DIA. Current shareholders
will receive Fnac-shares that can be traded freely on the Paris stock
exchange. Though
the PPR board of directors have confirmed their plans last night,staff and shareholders still need to give the green light at a
general meeting in May 2013. Fnac’s stock market launch is
therefore not expected before the summer of next year.

Transformation plan Fnac 2015

Meanwhile,
chairman Alexandre Bompard can continue the implementation of his
transformation plan “Fnac 2015”, which includes a wider
assortment (including vacuum cleaners and kitchen appliances), small
outlets in stations and airports, and financial cuts (including a
reduction of staff).

The
plan has been relatively successful so far: while the market is
facing a decline by 3.6%, Fnac has managed to reduce the decrease to
one percent. PPR assumes that a flotation should give the new
management enough time to put the chain back on the right track,
without the pressure of a new owner expecting short-term results.

What
about La Redoute?

Fnac
is not the only subsidiary facing spin-off: for quite some time, PPR
has also been trying to sell Redcats, the group comprising La
Redoute and other mail order companies. After fruitless attempts to
hive off Redcats in its entirety, PPR decided last summer to sell the
group in different parts.

According
to Le Figaro and Les Echos, PPR will announce at the latest on
October 25 that Redcats branches OneStopPlus and Golf Warehouse will
be sold to an American private equity firm. Cyrillus and Vertbaudet
(courted by the Zannier group of Tartine & Chocolat, IKKS), the
Scandinavian branches and La Redoute will probably not be sold
before 2013.

PPR
started to exit the “classic” retailing business when it sold
department store chain Printemps in 2006. Last year, furniture
chain Conforama followed suit.