The administrators of Habitat will request the judicial liquidation of the brand, placed in receivership

The furniture brand is facing “deep financial difficulties”.

The judicial administrators of Habitat will request the liquidation of the brand specializing in furniture, in great financial difficulty, during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday at the Bobigny court, management declared to AFP on Monday, December 18 .

Habitat, founded in 1964, was placed in receivership at the beginning of December. Friday, the directors announced in the CSE (social and economic committee) that they were going to request liquidation, management said, confirming information from the World and Mediapart. Habitat France had generated a turnover of 65 million euros in 2022 and recently employed a little more than 300 employees, according to the judgment opening legal recovery, rendered at the beginning of December.

No salaries paid in November?

The parent company, Habitat Design International, which employs 68 people and had a turnover of 51.8 million euros in 2022, was also placed in receivership at the beginning of December.

Habitat then explained that it had “faced profound financial difficulties, largely attributable to previous failing management, and exacerbated by more recent factors: a significant drop in store traffic, an inflationary shock and the surge in the prices of energy, raw materials and transport, with a direct impact on the purchasing power of households, internal social movements having disrupted activity”.

The brand had also announced that it was preparing a recovery plan through continuation “so as to sustainably achieve profitability and honor its commitments”. But according to the CSE, Habitat will not pay November salaries to employees and Thierry Le Guénic, owner of the brand, will “call on the AGS”wage guarantee schemes, which should “logically take over”was written in a memo sent to employees and consulted by AFP.