The Grenoble commercial court, which heard on Monday the representatives of some 2,000 employees who are worried about the financial situation of Go Sport as well as the management of the company, will render its decision on Wednesday.
The purpose of this hearing held behind closed doors was to verify that the company is not in a situation of cessation of payments in the short term.
“
The court considered that the situation was urgent, that it was necessary to act quickly
”, explained the lawyer for the central social and economic committee (CSEC) of Go Sport, Maître Evelyn Bledniak, after the hearing.
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Like the Camaïeu ready-to-wear chain, placed in liquidation at the end of September, with its 2,100 employees made redundant, its stocks sold off and the brand sold at auction, Go Sport is a subsidiary of the Hermione, People and Brands (HPB) group, owned by the Bordeaux investor Michel Ohayon The auditors of Go Sport, as well as an independent expert appointed by the elected representatives of the CSEC, presented a report on Monday concluding on the state of suspension of payments of Go Sport, since the period October -november.
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HPB management retaliated at the hearing with another independent report, issuing a statement of non-cessation of payments and promising a return to positive cash in the very near future.
“
But this report was made on the basis of incomplete information because it was stopped at the end of November, and the question is: and today?
“, underlined Me Evelyn Bledniak.
If the cessation of payments is characterized, a receivership procedure will be opened.
HPB had, for its part, requested a more confidential conciliation procedure which would have enabled it to choose its own conciliator.
The group also expressed, during the hearing, its desire to sell Go Sport if a conciliation was opened.
Economic alert procedures had been launched in October by the auditors and by the CSEC, worried by the fate of Camaïeu, liquidated last September and which belonged to the same group.
The CSEC elected officials also discovered that money transfers, for an estimated amount of 36.3 million euros, had been made on Go Sport's cash to HPB.
In loss for years, Go Sport, founded in 1978 and based in Sassenage in Isère, had been bought at the end of 2021 for a symbolic euro by HPB from the parent company of the Casino food distribution group, the company Rallye, itself even heavily in debt.
