Calida
| Calida Holding AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | CH0126639464 |
| founding | CALIDA 1941 / Holding 1986 |
| Seat |
Sursee , Switzerland
|
| management | Reiner Pichler (CEO) Marco Gadola ( Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | 2,997 |
| sales | 410 million CHF (2018) |
| Branch | Textile industry , garden furniture |
| Website | www.calidagroup.com |
| As of December 31, 2018 | |
The Calida Group is a listed, internationally active laundry company based in Sursee . In addition to the Swiss parent brand Calida, the French brand Aubade, which was taken over in 2005 and is based in Paris, also belongs to the group. The two brands mainly specialize in luxury lingerie as well as day and nightwear. Both brands are sold in around 70 countries through upscale specialist retailers, department stores and in the home markets of Switzerland, Germany and France, respectively, through their own shops. In 2013 the group employed a total of around 1,600 people and achieved sales of around 95.7 million Swiss francs (around 77 million euros) in the first half of the year. Calida Holding AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich.
After Calida got into financial difficulties at the turn of the millennium, she was able to get back on track with a change of leadership and strategy as well as restructuring measures, which also included the closure of production in Switzerland. The then troubled company Aubade, which was taken over in 2005, has also been restructured and today accounts for over a quarter of sales. In 2013 it was also announced that it would take over the French sportswear manufacturer Lafuma, in which it already has a stake.
history
The company was founded in 1941 as the Sursee AG knitwear factory by Max Kellenberger and Hans Joachim Palmers. In 1946 the word mark Calida, which was already registered in the commercial register in 1929, is transferred to the Strickwarenfabrik Sursee AG and the company itself is renamed Calida AG.
In the war and post-war period, functional women's underwear was initially produced. Calida grants a "laundry guarantee" and repairs damaged laundry free of charge. In the 1950s, fashion aspects also increasingly came to the fore. Calida is known, among other things, for her seamless women's panties, which are supposed to help create a slim silhouette, and her pajamas with a patented waistband, which are supposed to prevent slipping up.
When the company went public on the SWX Swiss Exchange in 1987, the company reorganized itself as a holding company, with 70% of the capital initially remaining with the founding families.
Crisis at the turn of the millennium
In the 1990s, investments are made in a knitting mill and a fully automated distribution center in Switzerland. In addition, a sewing shop each and a factory in India are opened in Hungary and Portugal. While other manufacturers, in the course of globalization, purchase their yarn from contract manufacturers in Eastern Europe or Asia or even have the entire production done by them, Calida invests in its own production facilities at four different locations. In addition to the resulting, comparatively high production costs, the company is also troubled by the dusty image and lack of growth. Although two thirds of the production is made up of lingerie, underwear and sportswear, the company's image is mainly shaped by pajamas and functional underwear.
After the first loss in the company's history was made in 1999, the Palmers family left the company a year later and the Kellenberger family took over the majority stake. A new supervisory board is elected. After a record loss of 43 million Swiss francs on sales of 191 million Swiss francs in 2001, a new management team was appointed. Felix Sulzberger becomes the new CEO. Born in Bern, he studied economics and previously worked in marketing at Philip Morris and in the management of Reebok and Levi's and is considered a marketing specialist.
Restructuring and end of production in Switzerland
Felix Sulzberger subjects the company to a fundamental restructuring. Loss-making products are being removed from the range, operating and capital expenditures are cut, inventories are written off and the number of points of sale is reduced. Calida also invests in its brand identity. You want to look fashionable and up-to-date and increasingly focus on women's underwear and sportswear. In addition, the production facilities in India and Portugal are sold and both the knitting and sewing plants in Sursee are shut down. The new owner of the factory in Portugal continues to produce as an independent supplier for Calida. For the first time, Calida is also having third parties produce on a large scale in Eastern Europe and the Far East.
Of the former 1,400 Calida employees, just 600 remain, half of them in Sursee, 250 in Hungary and the rest in the shops. In January 2003 the last pajamas made in Switzerland left Calida's factories. Sample collections and small series as well as machine-cut fabric parts for further processing abroad are temporarily manufactured in Sursee.
Sales shrink to 140 million francs. In 2003 Calida was able to post a profit for the first time in four years, recorded a positive cash flow and soon cleared its debts net. Although Calida is again making a profit and benefiting from the profit brought forward for tax purposes, production in Switzerland will be completely stopped in 2005 and the last 40 employees in production will also lose their jobs. Since 2010 Calida no longer has production in Portugal.
In an interview with the Berner Zeitung in 2005, Sulzberger said that the relocation had to do with the complete deregulation of the textile market as a result of the new WTO rules that came into force at the beginning of the year . Since there are no more tariffs, trade barriers or quotas, one is exposed to intensified competition, especially with Asia. Production in Switzerland costs four times more than that in Portugal and even this is now too expensive for Calida.
Other Swiss manufacturers of underwear still produce wholly or partially in Switzerland to this day, such as the renowned Aarburg manufacturer of luxury underwear Zimmerli with tailoring in Ticino or the premium lingerie manufacturer Isa Bodywear, which carries out sewing work in the plant in Portugal, but does the other production steps in the Switzerland worried.
Takeover of Aubades
In 2005 Calida takes over the traditional French manufacturer of luxury lingerie Aubade, based in Paris. The funds for this come from a capital increase and from bank loans. The Aubades products, which are located in the luxury segment, primarily lingerie, are significantly more expensive than the day and nightwear Calidas, which is positioned in the premium segment, and are intended to expand the range. While Calida each accounts for around 40% of sales in Switzerland and Germany, Aubade sells around 60% in France and sells in Spain and Russia, among others. The takeover should also create an expansion and internationalization of the sales markets and synergies in sales and logistics. With sales of CHF 75 million in 2004, Aubade lags behind Calida's sales of CHF 138 million in the same period, but has a significantly higher margin. The Pasquier family, owners of Aubades since 1939, justified the sale by wanting to separate themselves financially and personally from the company. In addition, the merger is intended to achieve the critical size for survival in the increasing displacement competition.
Restructuring and end of production in France
As part of the restructuring measures that have been initiated, the sewing work will initially be completely outsourced from France in 2006. They are now being made in Tunisia, where around 70% of the pieces are already being sewn, half in our own factory and half at suppliers. With the closure of the plant in the village of La Trimouille in western France, around 180 employees lose their jobs and the region is by far the largest employer. The cutting of the individual parts still remains in France. As the number of specialist dealers is decreasing, Aubade is taking some of the sales into its own hands with its own stores like Calida.
The slump in demand caused by the economic crisis affects Aubade. In the first half of 2009, Aubade put the Calida Group in the red with a loss of over 50 million francs. 104 jobs at the St. Savin site , which now only serves as a logistics platform, will be lost to the savings measures . While technical development and pre-industrial work processes are being brought together at the headquarters in Paris, cutting and pattern design are being outsourced to Tunisia.
According to a 2013 ruling in France, dismissals in 2009 were abusive. According to the appellate body, Calida will be fined EUR 2.1 million. Calida is pulling the ruling on and has already made provisions. The end of the process is not expected before 2015.
After a restructuring phase of several years and depreciation in the double-digit million range, Aubade found its way back into the profit zone and became a major growth driver for the group.
Takeover of Lafumas
Since 2004, Calida's CEO Felix Sulzberger has been a member of the board of directors of Lafumas , a French manufacturer of sportswear and equipment as well as garden furniture. In 2011 he also took over the operational management from his predecessor Philippe Joffards, who is a grandson of one of the founding members of Lafuma. In 2013, Calida took a 17.5 million stake in Lafuma and thus became a minority shareholder with around 15.3% of the shares. In October of the same year it was announced that it would take over the majority of the shares. An extraordinary general meeting in December approves a capital increase, which is the prerequisite for the takeover. The turnover of the Lafuma Group in 2012 amounted to 225 million euros, which exceeds that of the Calida Group. Sales are also above Calida's level. However, a loss of 15 million euros was incurred in the same period. In the first half of 2013 it even amounted to 60 million, which is why restructuring measures have already been announced. While the Calida Group only accounts for around a fifth of sales in France, Lafuma accounts for more than half.
Calida today
The Calida brand
A wide range of nightwear is sold under the Calida brand, including daywear, loungewear, functional underwear, shirts and knitwear, as well as swimwear and beachwear. It is sold through around 125 brand stores in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, but also through specialist and mail order businesses and in department stores. With 3,000 sales partners worldwide, Calida sells more than 20,000 products every day. Of the 855 employees working directly for Calida Bodywear, around 400 work in Switzerland and around 310 in production at the main plant in Hungary. Around 120 employees work in sales in Germany. The remaining employees work in various European countries.
Today around two thirds of Calida Bodywears production is in Europe, while one third is made in Asia. About 40% of the production comes from the company's own factory in Hungary, the rest is bought in from suppliers and not produced in-house. To this end, Calida works with around 19 partners in Europe and Asia.
Around 29% of the materials used come from Switzerland. The design of new collections as well as the selection of fabrics and the creation of the fits take place in Switzerland. The central warehouse is also maintained there.
The Aubade brand
High-priced lingerie products are sold under the Aubade brand. The “Leçons de seduction” campaign enjoys cult status in France. Production takes place in Tunisia, partly in our own plant and partly at contract manufacturers.
Web links
- Company evaluation on corporate responsibility by Public Eye (formerly the Bern Declaration)
- Social Responsibility Report 2012
- Website of Calida Holding AG with the brands Calida and Aubade
- Calida AG website
- Website of Aubade SA
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b press release annual results 2018. In: calidagroup.com. March 1, 2019, accessed May 13, 2019 .
- ↑ http://www.calida.com/history Official website of the Calida brand, accessed on December 3, 2013
- ↑ http://www.calidagroup.com/cadila-group/facts-history.aspx?sc_lang=de-DE/text/ Official website of the Calida Group, accessed on December 3, 2013
- ↑ NZZ am Sonntag; August 6, 2006, issue no. 32 page 77
- ^ ProLitteris / Biswas Chanchal; December 12, 2004, issue no. 50 page 51 Economy
- ↑ The covenant; February 26, 2005, issue no. Page 37, Economy Der Bund
- ↑ http://www.wirtschaft.ch/Calida+Produktion+in+der+Schweiz+zu+teuer/204853/detail.htm/text/Artikel auf Wirtschaft.ch of February 26, 2005: 'Calida production in the Switzerland too expensive ', accessed on December 20, 2013
- ↑ Neue Luzerner Zeitung of April 30, 2005, page 13: 'Calida is getting Parisian chic'
- ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of October 5, 2006, page 25: 'Calida brings lingerie daughter into shape'
- ↑ Neue Luzerner Zeitung of July 25, 2009, page 13: 'Calida writes deep red numbers'
- ↑ Finanz und Wirtschaft from July 27, 2013, page 11: 'Calidas Trouble with France'
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 21, 2011, issue number 272, page 23: 'In the land of pajamas'
- ^ [1] Article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of December 20, 2013: 'Calida takes over Lafuma entirely', accessed on March 29, 2019 on nzz.ch
- ↑ [2] , comment by Christoph G. Schmutz on nzz.ch of October 5, 2013: 'French problem children as business model', accessed on June 14, 2019 on nzz.ch
- ↑ http://www.finanzen.ch/nachrichten/aktien/Calida-Lafuma--Aktionaere-stimmen-Kapitalerhoehung-zu-und-machen-Uebernahme-moeglich-804537/text/ Article on Finanz.ch from December 20, 2012 : 'Lafuma shareholders say yes to Calida', accessed December 20, 2013
- ↑ a b c d Report on social responsibility 2011 of CALIDA AG page 15, accessed on November 17, 2012 (PDF; 855 kB)
Coordinates: 47 ° 9 ′ 48 " N , 8 ° 6 ′ 26" E ; CH1903: six hundred fifty thousand six hundred and ninety-six / 223812