11.05.2016

Comilev in administration

We have now confirmed that French truck mounted lift manufacturer Comilev has been placed into administration.

This is actually old news, as the company filed as insolvent at the end of March, but for some reason the news was slow to reach us. The company, which is based on a 25,000 square metre site in Roquefort and employs 108, has been given six months to find a buyer or restructure. Expressions of interest have to be filed with the administrator today.

The company is owned by HTI (Hoche Triomphe industrie) which also owns the general equipment and access rental company Locamod as well as specialist equipment manufacturer Risa which produces digger derrick type products.

Last year Comilev lost €1.5 million, revenues back in 2011 were around €14 million and we understand that they may have slipped since then.
The current business was formed by a merger in February 1994 of A.C.M.L./Sietam and Comilev. It also operates a small truck mounted lift rental division Comiloc. Products include truck and van mounted lifts, fire-fighting platforms and insulated/utility platforms. The company is highly integrated carrying out most of its fabrication work as well as assembly.
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Comilev is a player in the French van mounted market

HTI chief executive Jean-Claude Lafrasse said: "We have two types of problem. Insufficient sales volume and falling margins. We have continued to produce in France in small volumes and specific mini-series, while our competitors have focused on larger volumes and outsource to lower cost areas to reduce their costs. We have not made the changes necessary to adapt and do not have men to lead them. As a result, the group can no longer make up the losses as it has for the past two years."

He added that there was a chance to sell the business and had two French competitors in mind and one from North America.
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Comilev also produces a wide range of truck mounted lifts

Vertikal Comment

Comilev ‘s failure is one of poor management, with a weak or non-existent long term strategy and poor marketing. Its production techniques also appear to be somewhat outdated, in a world where most truck mounted manufacturers focus on assembly and outsource their fabrication to companies that specialise – and these tend to be in their own backyard rather than in low cost countries as is suggested.

Comilev never bothered too much with export and focused way too much on a small protected section of the domestic market, which is steadily disappearing as these business come into the modern world themselves. Sadly the holding company appears to have done little back when it could have made a difference, although it did invest in updating some of the 1930s era buildings a few years back and acquired a local producer of steel street lights and then in 2012 Matlev, a producer of lift tables.

What is quite interesting is that it plays into the hands of Julien Bourrellis owner of Time France, who has dropped Versalift, effectively cutting them off for a while from the French market as he builds Klubb into a major van mounted lift producer, and now finds more space created by the failure of one of his competitors. He will clearly be watching how the bidding for the Comilev assets goes.

The saddest thing of all this though is that 108 people could lose their jobs and the area an important part of its economy. Perhaps one of the big US utility/van mounted lift manufacturers will see this as an opportunity to gain a foothold in the European market? Or given that Time Versalift is in the process of establishing a wholly owned sales subsidiary in southern France.... Comilev is based in the South West .... so who knows?