Taken in 2015 by Adrian Diaconu, the group is in judicial liquidation, but can continue its activity, in order to find a buyer. On November 10, two offers were formulated, but were considered insufficient.
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“In six years, I injected 30 million euros in France leisure, a project that was important to me. The transformation of the company came almost at its end, but was too slow, and the Pandemic of Covid-19 put us on the carpet, “explains to the world Adrian Diaconu, president of ACTISIA, the mother-house of this book club, which has only 800,000 members.
The turnover of this integrated group (both publisher, printer, broadcaster, call center and logistics) melted by 22% in 2020 compared to 2019, at 65.8 million euros . But the tumble continues at least at the same pace since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the losses of the company worsen. “After 8 million euros of deficit in the first half, the months of July and August have generated 6 million euros of losses,” says Diaconu.
Once again, France Leisure is looking for a buyer. After a declaration of cessation of payments, on 29 September, the Commercial Court of Paris, the company, which has a thousand employees with its subsidiaries, was placed by a judgment of October 25, in liquidation, but, but, Rare, with a continuation of activity, precisely to find a buyer. Wednesday, November 10, two serious, but insufficient recovery offers were proposed in Hélène Bourbouloux, a judicial administrator responsible for this file. The Tribunal will have to pronounce early December.
Amazon, Cultura and Leclerc competition
Created in 1970 by Bertelsmann and the Presses de la Cité, this book club, which counted up to 2 million members, has several times avoided bankruptcy. In March 2015, when Adrian Diaconu, CEO of International Technology Solutions, a diversified Luxembourg company in the drones, the security of connected objects and artificial intelligence, resumed ACTISIA, the group was drifting and riddled with debt. The buyer has refocused the network of shops on the books, putting an end to the sale of beauty and cosmetics – a diversification that had failed.
Amazon’s competition, but also that of Cultura and Leclerc libraries, has made a model obsolete a model that consisted of selling at least five books a year to subscribers. Left to send the titles they have not requested to those who had not made their order early enough.
Despite an attempted rendering of France Leisure, which still had 250 million euros in sales in 2015 and more than 2,000 employees, Adrian Diaconu had to file the balance sheet for the first time in December 2017. The company emerged from its judicial recovery in 2019, and Adrian Diaconu, always at the head of the group after the approval of its Continuation Plan by the Tribunal, ended the systematic sending of books to subscribers.
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