The future is dark for the Coop des Masques and its fifteen employees. Launched in early 2021 in the Graces industrial zone near Guingamp (Côtes-d’Armor), the surgical mask and FFP2 manufacturing plant was placed in receivership on February 23 by the Saint-Brieuc commercial court, a learned 20 minutesconfirming information from West France.
In lack of cash, the cooperative society had already feared bankruptcy in September and had to lay off five employees. It was then crumbling under stocks due to Chinese competition with six million masks to sell. To replenish the coffers, a major destocking operation had been successfully carried out with an influx of orders. “And this continues because we have signed contracts with large companies and we have won calls for tenders from hospitals”, indicates Patrick Guilleminot, general manager of masks.
Six months to find partners
So why does the Breton factory find itself today in cessation of payments with a cumulative liability of 3.3 million euros according to the daily? The fault of a heavy investment of nearly five million euros to acquire a machine manufacturing meltblown, the filter fabric used to produce masks. “During the crisis, no one manufactured them in France, we were dependent on foreign countries”, justifies the general manager. Although the machine was delivered in September, production never started. “We need around one million euros to install it and start it up,” explains Patrick Guilleminot.
Its cash in the red, the Coop masks now has six months to find partners to allow the start of this new activity. Otherwise, it will then be the end of an adventure which had aroused a wave of enthusiasm at the time of its launch, in the midst of a health crisis.