The Lorillard Group consolidates its leading position in the wood joinery market

SHARED VALUES

Founded in 1961, Menuiserie Meslin specializes in the manufacture of personalized and custom-made wooden joinery. A family business, run by Mr. and Mrs. Le Roy, it employs 48 people and generates a turnover of €7,5 million (2020).

Aimed exclusively at craftsmen, B to B marketing only involves the supply of joinery.

Thus the company, which does not yet have any sales representatives, achieves 80% of its turnover in Paris and the Paris region, thanks to its reputation, its atypical products (carriage doors, curved joinery in plan and elevation for Haussmannian buildings, etc.) and its specific know-how in wood joinery.

With a healthy and growing business, Menuiserie Meslin nevertheless needs to be supported by a group in order to benefit from a powerful structure to develop its know-how throughout the territory and increase the marketing of its joinery.

Given the company's history, family character and strong regional presence, the company likely to acquire them had to share the same values.

The Lorillard Group was chosen by the management to acquire Menuiserie Meslin. Initially, the acquisition was scheduled to take place last July, but the current health crisis stalled the acquisition's progress. The memorandum of understanding wasn't signed until November.

ENRICHING SKILLS

The Lorillard Group will make all of its industrial and commercial experience available to Menuiserie Meslin.

The Group has defined an industrial plan with short, medium and long-term investments, in order to increase production capacity, improve the company's performance and increase its turnover.

A recruitment campaign will therefore be carried out to integrate costing staff and strengthen the Design Office, as well as operators and carpenters in the workshops.

Developments and investments will also be made in the production tool. Menuiserie Meslin designs wooden joinery (80% of the business), aluminum joinery (20% of the business), and produces some PVC joinery.

PVC production will be repatriated to Chartres in order to leave more space for the expansion of aluminum production, which represents €1,5 million of the current turnover of Menuiserie Meslin.

Thus, several of the Group's aluminum equipment will be transferred to Meslin to strengthen the production of specific aluminum products. This will be an added value for the Group, which did not yet offer this type of product: folding doors, tilting doors, glass roofs, and corner sliding doors made from the Technal range, a long-standing partner of Menuiserie Meslin.

At the same time, the wood production tool will benefit from new machines aimed at improving machining performance as well as a new lacquering booth for the 10-year guarantee on wood finishes, during 2021.

The objective is clear: to increase B30B activity with sales to craftsmen, by increasing wood production by almost 8,5% and the ambition to increase turnover to €2021 million in 12 and €3 million within XNUMX years.

CHRONICLE OF AN ANNOUNCED GROWTH

As Thierry Luce mentioned at the beginning of 2020: Today, it is necessary to continue investing to withstand ever-increasing national and international competitive pressure. »; the objective of the Lorillard Group is to acquire a critical size which is between €200 and €250 million in turnover.

The acquisition of Menuiserie Meslin brings the Group's turnover to nearly €190 million at the end of 2020, bringing the Group closer to its desired critical objective.

Other ambitions of the No. 1 in wood in France: to strengthen its leading position in this market by expanding its offering and to increase the Group's wood production capacity to more than 25% by 2022.

With the company Menuiserie Meslin, the Lorillard Group has acquired a 4th wood production plant (with its site in Chartres, Molénat in Decazeville and Bourneuf in Parigné-L'Evêque), but also acquires new products within the Group and commercial complementarity with the Molénat and Bourneuf brands.

Indeed, Lorillard now has multi-channel marketing (BtoB, BtoC, construction site);

Molénat distributes specifically to businesses, and Bourneuf is dedicated to supplying and installing high-end construction sites; as for Meslin, it reinforces the direct supply method to craftsmen.

Today, the Lorillard Group is one of the largest manufacturers of industrial joinery in France with its 7 production sites spread across the country: Chartres (28), Saint-Doulchard (18), Pralong (42), Parigné-l'Evêque (72), Decazeville (12), Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx (40) and Glatigny (50) including 4 wood workshops, 4 PVC workshops, 3 aluminum workshops and 1 workshop for roller shutters.

And, the acquisition of this 7th production site works towards a strategy of territorial networking, with the objective of minimizing transport costs by always producing as close as possible to customers and construction sites.

Ultimately, with the acquisition of Menuiserie Meslin, the timber business within the Lorillard Group represents €45 million (supply and installation and supply alone), representing a quarter of the Group's turnover.