Could the St-Méthode bakery be in trouble? Or directly for sale? If the management denies the rumor, it still confirms that it is looking for new partnerships to consolidate its activities.
Last week, in response to questions from the Journal, the Chaudière-Appalaches-based company, based in Adstock, issued a press release confirming that it was currently evaluating “the possibility of working with various business partners.”
The reason: “New partners will allow it […] “We will begin our development projects in the Ontario and United States markets,” said its President Benoit Faucher in a press release. These are markets within our reach […] consumers are already interested in’.
overcapacity
During a subsequent telephone interview, Mr. Faucher flatly refused to elaborate on his plans. Everything will depend on which partner is found, he says.
He replied that there was no question of financial difficulties or even a partial sale of the company, describing the journal’s questions as “ridiculous”.
The company, founded in 1947, will only have to contend with “excess production capacity,” he indicated, although it is far more interested in capital injections than loans.
closure and bankruptcy
The bread industry is already heavily domestically focused – since Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo bought Canada Bread in 2014 – and is currently facing myriad headwinds.
Among them: recurring supply difficulties, sharp increases in grain, transport and labor prices, and tedious discussions with traders about retail prices.
In March 2023, after expanding Adstock facilities by 35% (20,000 square feet) [au coût de 14M$]Boulangerie St-Méthode has announced the closure of its plant in Magog, Estrie. Twenty employees lost their jobs.
In addition, last June, an independent sales company of Boulangerie Saint-Méthode in Bas-du-Fleuve filed for bankruptcy. According to the report by Raymond Chabot Grant Thorton, the trustee on the filing, the company owed approximately $47,000 to the Quebec tax authorities.
State Aid
One thing is certain: over the past 15 years, Boulangerie St-Méthode has received at least $4 million in support from Investissement Québec and the Quebec government.
Last February, a month before closing its Magog facility, the company received a $100,000 grant from the Economic Diversification Fund for the Appalachian MRC area.
In 2018, the company and Groupe BSM, of which St-Méthode is a part, received $3 million from the Quebec government under the Essor program.
Finally, in 2008, Boulangerie St-Méthode received $961,000 in support from Quebec through Investissement Quebec and the then Department of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade.
The company now employs 300 people and generated sales of 100 million US dollars in 2022.
-With the contribution of Sylvain Larocque and Nicolas Brasseur
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