Financial losses, emergency loan, uncertain deliveries… One month before the Olympic Games, Le Coq Sportif, official equipment supplier, is worried – Libération

The sponsor of the French Olympic team, whose accounts are in the red, has obtained a loan of 2.9 million euros from the Olympic organizing committee to finance its supply of 150,000 outfits. Nothing reassuring less than a month before the opening ceremony.

In three weeks, on July 26, Paris will welcome the world for the Olympic Games and the French delegation will have to dress to the nines. But the recent setbacks of Airesis, the company that owns 78% of Le Coq Sportif, the official equipment supplier of the competition, risk disrupting this idyllic picture. Chosen in 2020, the company must dress 840 French athletes, their staff, as well as officials and referees.

In recent weeks, the bad news has continued to pile up for the sportswear and footwear producer, which is suffering from financial difficulties that could jeopardize its Olympic deliveries. And the questions are flying. Will the small company be able to deliver on time the 150,000 or so pieces promised for the competition? Did its surprise signing four years ago not herald a new illustration of the “winner’s curse”, which affects companies that pretend to be a bull at the time of the deal, then back down when it comes to honoring their promises?

The organizers have been getting tense since the end of May, at least publicly. The head of the French Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, pointed out “a little delay” in deliveries. A senior French official assured AFP at the same time that “some federations are worried” and that Le Coq Sportif is “not in a strong position.”

Then, on June 3, the announcement of the suspension of Airesis shares from the Swiss Stock Exchange due to a delay in publishing its 2023 annual results raised many eyebrows. Cornered, the company decided two days later to publish part of its annual accounts: these show a loss of 37 million euros – compared to 2 million the previous year – and a turnover down from 150 million to 121 million francs (-19%). Barely positive in 2022, the operating deficit is now sinking into the red, with losses of 20 million Swiss francs.

To explain its difficulties, the management of Le Coq Sportif puts forward the double excuse of a repositioning in shoes, and of discussions on its international deployment. And the owner of the holding company, the Swiss businessman Marc-Henri Beausire, affirms to the Echos that there is “absolutely no risk of bankruptcy in the immediate future.” The brand promises that all federations will be delivered before the Games.

“Deliveries of outfits are ending”

New development on Saturday June 29: according to information from the daily newspaper the teamwhich obtained Airesis’ annual financial report published the day before, the Paris Olympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojo) lent 2.9 million euros to Le Coq Sportif in May 2024 to “finance the need for funds […] specifically for the supply of competition outfits.” If the objective is once again to “ensure a sufficient level of cash” for the equipment manufacturer to supply the teams, the announcement is bad form, and shows a need for fresh money to avoid a catastrophe at the time of deliveries. Neither Airesis, nor the Ministry of Sports, nor the Cojo wished to make an official comment on this loan.

Interviewed by Libération on Tuesday, July 2, the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, nevertheless wanted to be reassuring: “We are continuing our work with all our partners and we are confident about the delivery of all the outfits in the coming days.” For its part, Airesis assures that Le Coq Sportif “is already capitalizing on the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” for which “the deliveries of outfits are ending.” The company also swears that its collections created for the event “are already experiencing exceptional sales.”

Le Coq Sportif wants to use the Olympic exposure as a springboard to export, while 80 to 90% of its turnover is currently made in France. The company currently has 363 employees, including 147 in its factory in Romilly-sur-Seine, in the Aube, where part of its production has been relocated since its acquisition by Airesis in 2005.

Failure is not an option for the company. For four years, its workers and designers have been working to the rhythm of the Olympic Games. And its ambition is not limited to Paris, since Le Coq Sportif wants to continue to dress the French teams for the Games in the long term, as it had done without interruption between 1912 and 1972.