A concerted recovery with HD Marine
The Euro-voiles Riviera Plaisance group, present in the Var and the Alpes Maritimes through its 4 shipyards and concessions, is expanding with the takeover of HD Marine, located in Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël. For this, Bastien Infante and Mathias Coulomb join Leopold Mandier, who has been managing HD Marine for 10 years, in a partnership that Bastien Infante is delighted with: "Léopold has been the manager of HD Marine for 10 years. It is the nautical branch of an industrial group managed by his father who was reorganizing his business. Léo came to us and explained that he wanted to take over the company, but not alone. This seemed appropriate to us. The HD Marine brand will remain, it has a real identity. We are accompanying Léopold, because there are synergies. It's not Euro-voiles that sets up shop in Saint-Raphaël and Fréjus."
A culture of service to the boater
With common brands, the synergies between Euro-voiles and HD Marine seem obvious. The two brands have the Jeanneau and Prestige cards. As Euro-voiles also distributes Lagoon, HD Marine will also be granted the card of the multihull brand of the Bénéteau group in Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël. It will also keep its card of the engine manufacturer Yamaha.
For Bastien Infante, the important thing is the common service culture. "HD Marine is 40 years old and has over 4,000 square meters of boat maintenance space. It is one of the largest Yamaha dealers. There is a real culture of service, like Euro-voiles, which is first and foremost a shipyard, which also sells beautiful brands. I've always believed that you need good service first and then it's easier to sell boats."
Synergies between dealerships
By grouping together Euro-voiles and its 45 employees, Riviera Plaisance and its 15 employees, and now the 12 workers of HD Marine, the group employs over 70 people. This allows it to increase its skills and resources, as its director explains in conclusion: "As we see in the automotive business, it's better to find synergies. We, boat dealerships, are small craftsmen. When you're small, you can't structure yourself and have communication or human resources managers. By getting together, it will allow us to professionalize communication, management control and all these functions."
