Cébé halts production of goggles and helmets

Cébé has announced that it is to close all its French factories and stop production of goggles and helmets by the end of the year. The manufacturer started production in Franche-Comté (France) at the end of the 19th century. It has been a subsidiary of the Italian Macrolin [MCL - ISIN:IT0001129847] group since 1999.

The group lost €13.3 million for €157.4 million turnover in 2006. Cebe contributed the bulk of the losses at €10.8 million. The losses followed €16.7 million in 2005. The group, which also for produces sunglasses for other brands (Tom Ford, Mont Blanc, Roberto Cavelli, Ferrari etc) will focus on the sunglass market with production delocalized to Italy and China. Cébé has suffered from strong competition from cheaper products from Decathlon, Lidl at the bottom end and from products from the large winter sports manufacturers.