On sale since the end of last year, the Groupe Rocher’s perfume production site will be taken over by the US-headquartered Arcade Beauty group, an established producer of sampling solutions.
The Groupe Rocher, which has more than 15,000 employees in France and abroad working for its nine brands – including Yves Rocher, Petit Bateau, Sabon and Arbonne – has announced its intention to sell its perfume production site in Ploërmel on 25 September last year. A long-time leader in volume in France on the perfume market, the Groupe Rocher has seen its shares erode with the growing success of new competitors such as Adopt Parfums and the evolution of consumer preferences towards a more premium offering.
Five year agreement on volumes
The discussions with Arcade Beauty are motivated by “a shared desire to guarantee production of the group’s current volumes, the acquisition of all the facilities at the Ploërmel plant, and the reinstatement of all jobs,” said Groupe Rocher in a statement.
Groupe Rocher committed on a five-year exclusive production agreement for the group’s existing volumes, thus ensuring the stability and continuity of the operations at Ploërmel. For its part, Arcade Beauty is committed to developing the site by bringing in additional volumes through commercial partnerships it will develop.
Scaling up full service business
“The Ploërmel site, with its industrial capacity and know-how, is exactly what we were looking for to expand our product offering and pursue our commercial development. All our teams are working hard to finalize negotiations with Groupe Rocher, with a view to preserving production and jobs at the site. I am convinced that Ploërmel will be one of our group’s industrial flagships in the very near future,” commented Carl Allain, CEO and President of Arcade Beauty.
Headquartered in New York, USA, Arcade Beauty is an international industrial group that develops and manufactures products for over 400 cosmetics and fragrance brands. A world leader in sampling solutions, Arcade Beauty extends its offer to full-service, in particular in the USA and in Brazil. The acquisition of the Ploërmel production site will accelerate the development of this part of its activity in Europe.
Arcade Beauty operates 11 production plants around the world, including 5 in Europe. Over the last three years, the group has invested 3.5 million euros to increase the production capacities of its Biopack site, in Normandy, north-west of France, specialized in the production of samples and small-size products.
