The Riccobono Group has positioned itself for a major contract. The French company, which has 12 printing plants, three binding centers and seven mailing sites, is a candidate in the European call for tenders launched by the Belgian government. From July 1, 2024, the contract will cover all home delivery services for Belgium's 11 million inhabitants over the next five years. This contract, divided into two âeuros lots, one for all daily newspapers, the other for all âeuros peÌriodiques, represents the equivalent of 3,300 full-time delivery staff and 500 additional support and management staff.
15 million euros of investment for Riccobono
With its subsidiary Proximy acquired in 2021 representing 20% of its sales of 250 million euros, the Riccobono Group has responded to this invitation to tender, highlighting an investment of over 15 million euros. The award decision will be announced by the end of the year.
For the a printing group since 1900 that has recently diversified into sectors complementary to newspaper production this project is in line with the company's ambition to double its sales in the coming years by building on its international presence.
From "serious assets" to win this tender
With Proximy, which delivers daily to 180,000 subscribers and 4,400 points of sale in the Île-de-France region, and its 1,500 employees, the group headed by Guillaume Riccobono estimates "to have serious assets to be selected" he says.
Proximy's offer will take into account the situation of the 3,300 employees of the current service provider Bpost.
It is also open to creating a partnership with one or more confreÌeurosres in order to bring the best conditions and services to Belgian publishers.
As part of its response, Proximy is proposing to deliver 90% of copies before 7:30 in the morning. The Belgian government has decided to deliver only 80% of its vehicles by this time, rather than 100% as at present.
A call for a rebalancing of postal aids and portage
Riccobono points out that Belgium strongly supports portage, which, from 2024 onwards, will represent 55 eurocents per copy for dailies and 24 eurocents for periodicals. In France, "despite the public authorities' stated intention to increase their support for portage" compared with postal delivery, aid per copy is currently only 4 euro cents for portage (plus 4 cents to the network), compared with 30 euro cents per copy for postal delivery," he laments.
"The Riccobono Group hopes that this rebalancing between postal aid and support for portage will be one of the theÌeurosmes sliced at the time of the mission on press distribution launched by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Culture."
