French holding company Cafom is looking to sell its subsidiary Habitat. Loss-making branches of the furniture chain are to be closed.
The search for a solid partner
Yesterday, Cafom announced its intention to dispose of the furniture chain. According to Habitat CEO, Hervé Giaoui, this also means that some French stores may have to close, although he did not disclose any details. The chain has 36 stores (27 in France, five in Spain, three in Switzerland and one in Monaco), as well as 39 franchised stores around the world.
Giaoui told Capital.fr that he was not going to sell the retain chain to simply anyone: “we would prefer a solid partner with a project. […] I hope that our buyer will be a large group, or even a competitor or industrialist, who can develop the company abroad, maintain our image and secure our business.”
Habitat was founded in the United Kingdom, but has been owned by Cafom since 2011. During the 2017-2018 financial year, Cafom made a loss of 13.9 million euros as a result of restructuring Habitat. As part of this reorganisation, the chain ended up closing several stores, including six in Germany, in addition to withdrawing from Norway. Habitat also used to have an active presence in Belgium (through a franchiser), but those stores closed their doors in 2017.
