Paris (AFP)
Presstalis has filed for bankruptcy when its major shareholders, magazines and daily newspapers, do not agree on a rescue solution, the main press distributor in France said on Tuesday, confirming information from the Correspondance de la presse.
The distributor with 900 employees declared Monday in cessation of payment with the Commercial Court of Paris, a procedure "without immediate consequence" on its activities, as assured by its CEO Cédric Dugardin, in a message to employees consulted by AFP. Daily newspapers and magazines should therefore continue to be routed without interruption.
Presstalis, which had benefited from yet another bailout two years ago, is once again in difficulty and must restructure. But two plans clash: Presstalis defends with the daily newspapers the maintenance of a single structure (which would continue to distribute both the daily newspapers and the magazine press), while the cooperative of magazines and the MLP (Messageries lyonnaises de presse, competitor of Presstalis), offer a separation of magazines and daily newspapers.
In addition, the press editors must decide before Tuesday evening on a financing scheme which would avoid the losses linked to the bankruptcy, valued around 120 million euros in total.
The Minister of Culture Franck Riester said Thursday April 16 that he was working with the Minister of Economy on a global plan for the press, which would take into account the issue of Presstalis. He also assured to do "everything so that there is no break in the distribution of the press", promising to pay the newsagents what Presstalis owed them.
The merchants, confronted in recent weeks with a drop in sales, should receive as expected their "additional remuneration" between the end of April and the beginning of May, said Presstalis, for a total of 16.2 million euros.
For Daniel Panetto, president of the organization of press merchants Culture Presse, this bankruptcy filing avoids "a sudden stop which would be very damaging if not fatal for the press merchants of the country, and therefore for the entire sector" . While publishers of daily newspapers and magazines are looking for a "lasting solution", continuity of distribution is "essential" for merchants, said Panetto.
© 2020 AFP