STRATEGY. The French family business, expert in swimming pool design and manufacture, is stepping up its investments. More innovation and independence is what this ETI is looking for as it faces up to inflation and the energy crisis.
“Research and development is one of the Group’s growth drivers”. With these words, Jean-Louis Desjoyaux, president of French company Piscines Desjoyaux, announces the creation of a new R&D center at its La Fouillouse industrial site, near Saint-Étienne. The new 10,000 m² workshop will open at the end of 2023, as an extension to the existing buildings. A 20 million euro program will be developed, notably to automate its injection press line. Another 20 million euros will be used to finance a household waste treatment center in the region. “Polyethylene and polypropylene, two materials we use to the tune of 5,000 tonnes a year, will be sorted,” a spokesperson for the family-owned ETI explains to Batiactu.
The company, which is listed on the stock exchange and has sales scheduled to reach 160.5 million euros in 2022, plans to continue recruiting, despite its “highly automated” production. “The planned investments will enable the creation of around twenty jobs”, estimates the CEO. Piscines Desjoyaux plans to hire a workshop manager, as well as operators and engineers.
A total of 25 people work in R&D at the company, which invests three million euros a year in this department. “Creation of new plastic pallets reserved for transport and returnable, search for independence from China on certain materials… There are many areas of research. We are also exploring the pool wellness segment, imagining fun pools equipped with massage jets, for example”.
Market slowdown
Until Russia invaded Ukraine, the pool market was booming. By 2021, sales in the sector had risen by 32%, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth, according to the Fédération des professionnels de la piscine. The economic crisis has since shaken things up. “The market has slowed down,” notes Jean-Louis Desjoyaux. “Our margin is slightly down in 2022, by five million euros. “Despite forecasts from the French National Statistics Institute (INSEE), which announced a potential drop in inflation to 5% in June, companies in the sector should be swimming in troubled waters in 2023.
Forty percent of the pool builder’s sales come from abroad. “Our company is 100% French. Everything is produced and manufactured on our industrial site”, says the spokesperson, who exports his goods to 80 countries. While its business is “doing well” in Italy, this is not the case in Germany. Piscines Desjoyaux expects to see its revenues fall by 30% on the other side of the Rhine in 2023, “in particular due to the crisis in Ukraine”. “Our sales in France are doing best, and we’re holding up well,” he says reassuringly. To pass on inflationary pressures, his company has had to raise its prices, “like everyone else”. “Since the beginning of the conflict in Eastern Europe, our prices have risen by an average of 20%. “The company has also taken the decision to reintegrate certain products subcontracted elsewhere into its production chain”.
Faced with galloping inflation and an energy crisis that is rocking Europe, Piscines Desjoyaux has adapted. “Our entire fleet of machines has been replaced. An investment of 10 million euros has enabled us to acquire new injection molding machines, which consume 30% less electricity than the ones we had before”, explains the manager. All the plant’s offices have been insulated, the lighting has been changed to Led fixtures and the gas boilers will shortly be replaced by wood-fired boilers. In addition, the head office and manufacturing workshops will be self-sufficient in electricity by 2025, thanks to the installation of 5,000 m² of solar panels.
Article published in Batiactu
Lilas-Apollonas Fournier