Good news! Groupe Riccobono's Hélio Print has officially emerged from the receivership proceedings initiated in November 2023. On February 26, the Meaux Commercial Court approved the continued operation of the rotary press manufacturer, based at Mary-sur-Marne in the Seine-et-Marne region, accompanied by a ten-year debt repayment plan.
Restructuring to restore balance
Faced with sharply rising energy costs and a declining supermarket market, the Riccobono group, which has sales of 250 million euros in France, has embarked on a gradual restructuring of its rotogravure printing facility. A plan to safeguard jobs led, 18 months ago, to the departure of 39 employees, reducing the workforce from 127 to 88. The number of shifts was reduced, one out of three rotogravure presses was shut down and production is now refocused on two rotogravure presses. The two 16-page offset presses, used to print magazine covers, have been maintained.
The organization of production has been reviewed to respond to the concentration of volumes in the middle of the week, in particular on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, when the weekly press and TV magazines are published. The downturn in the leaflet market, which previously enabled us to smooth out our workload throughout the week, now requires us to fine-tune our resources.
A printing site diversified around new activities
In addition to this refocusing, the Mary-sur-Marne site had opened up to other industrial activities in order to counter the bear market. In 2019, the group chaired by Guillaume Riccobono - the fifth generation of the founder - created HP Brochage, a high-volume finishing facility that can handle both regular press flows and one-off productions such as election campaigns.
The site also features revo training center launched in 2022 and Qualiopi-certified, which provides training in printing and logistics. And since 2023, it has also been home to Novatec Industry, a unit dedicated to the manufacture of low-weight heat-sealable paper for routing, based on a patented process.
Symbol of this divercificatioin, in the same year, the group dropped the word "printers" from its name and renamed itself Groupe Riccobono .
Hélio Print is one of the family group's two rotogravure sites, along with Lenglet Imprimeurs at Raillencourt-Sainte-Olle in the Nord department. Today, Riccobono's activities are structured around four divisions: PQN and PQR printing, magazine and flyer printing, finishing, distribution and delivery.
