On September 9, the Commercial Court made its decision. The bid from Bevizion, the printing subsidiary of Belgian group Koramic Investments, was accepted for the takeover of Neoa's large-format offset printing plant in La Bazoge, Sarthe.
Maintaining 41 out of 53 was undoubtedly an important factor in this decision, in the face of competing bids from DS Impression and the Sprint group's Chabrillac printing works.
Bevizion, which generates sales of 60 million euros, employs 300 people in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the UK. With Neoa, it now has eight companies, including three in France: KVC Print and KVC Retail, based in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) and Saint-Priest (Rhône).
Neoa, a fine printing company weakened by rising costs
Neoa had been in receivership since April, mainly due to the sharp rise in energy and raw material costs. Seeing no other way out, the administrator decided to put the company up for sale. Last year, it generated sales of 9.5 million euros, compared with around 15 million previously.
For Bevizion, letting this printing plant disappear was out of the question. Stéphane Leclipteur, Managing Director of Bevizion, explains: "Neoa has a very good reputation, it was a poster flagship in the region. The team is willing and particularly skilled, and these are rare qualities, as large-format offset printers are uncommon."
Applying successful methods to KVC Print
The printing plant will now operate under the name Neoa Printing. It will support the activities of KVC Print, which is currently operating at full capacity. Site management has been entrusted to Christophe Batan-Lapeyre, who previously worked for parent company Koramic.
Bevizion intends to apply the same methods that led to the turnaround of KVC Print, acquired from the court in October 2020. In three years, sales have risen by 15% to 20 million euros (17.5 million from the sign, signage and poster segments, and 2.5 million from the PVC business carried by KVC Retail). And the number of employees has risen from 90 to 95.
Stéphane Leclipteur insists on the requirements of the sector: "Large-format advertising, and billposting in particular, is an extremely responsive market. Posters are the end of the campaign chain, and we have a maximum four-day schedule. Responsiveness is essential. And for us it's the central point of our quality of service: we have to respond, reassure and deliver to the customer as quickly as possible."
Getting the machines back into fighting order
The first phase of the project will involve upgrading the equipment. "We're going to get the machines back in fighting order! says Stéphane Leclipteur.
Repairs and maintenance are scheduled over the coming weeks on the three Agfa digital presses and the two Manroland offset presses. These will be adapted to operate with 0.3 mm plates, which are less expensive than the current 0.4 mm plates.
In a second phase, cross-functional functions such as accounting and purchasing will be pooled with the Group's other French companies, to streamline management.
Stéphane Leclipteur concludes: "We want a sustainable project, the site and the workers taken on are secure." For the teams in place, a new phase begins, resolutely focused on action.
