Rossignol fires 30% of workforce

Restructuring continues apace at Rossignol group. Hit hard by a drop in sales (or a serious miscalculation in demand according to the trade unions) the group plans to fire 450 staff, 275 of them in France.

The redundancies will reduce the headcount by 30% according to a press release issued following a meeting at the HQ in Moirans close to Grenoble. Rossignol group, which includes Dynastar, Look and Lange lost 58 million euros last year on turnover of 270 million. According to the President, Bruno Cercley, the group aims to break even within 2 years. The group does not plan to close any of its sites, located in France, Spain and Italy, hoping instead to develop their strengths.

Sallanches based Dynastar had already laid-off the majority of its staff for two months this winter and plans to cut back production from 800,000 to 650,000 skis after being left with 290,000 pairs of unsold skis this winter (the majority of which were scrapped). 90 jobs will be lost at Sallanches with 32 other posts covering R&D, Marketing, Account and Team Management being moved the Moirans site. Dynastar is the last big ski manufacturer in France. Rossignol proved a nightmare for Quiksilver who sold the business for 40M€ at the end of October 2008 after paying $560.8 million just three years earlier.