Chief Executive Officer, InVivo Group (parent of Soufflet), Groupe Soufflet (part of InVivo Group since 2021)
Thierry Blandinières, directeur général d'InVivo, est l'invité de good morning business
Thierry Blandinières, directeur général d'InVivo, est l'invité de good morning business.
About Thierry Blandinières
Thierry Blandinières, chief executive of InVivo Group and president of the rugby club CA Brive, discussed his career and the challenges of the garden retail business during a recent appearance. He described his early professional experience at Procter & Gamble as a period that helped him structure his approach to marketing and sales, and noted that he left the company to avoid becoming "sclerotic." He also recalled his time as head of Madrange in the 1990s, where he helped launch the "jambon Véronique" communication campaign, and his decade as vice-president of the Mont-de-Marsan rugby club, which he described as a club with a smaller budget than Brive that consistently fields competitive teams. Blandinières addressed the performance of the garden retail sector, which he said generates most of its annual results in just two months. He noted that last year's poor spring weather was "catastrophic" for garden centers, while this year's conditions are returning to normal. He added that the business is difficult because it requires carrying inventory for a short sales window, and that the company waits until June 30 to determine whether it has had a good year.
Transcript (33 segments)
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Thierry Blandinières0:00
In the long term, the cereal growers, that is what guides us, it's our compass. So we know there are turbulences, there is volatility, so we must show agility, we must look at where the opportunities are because behind these crises there are always opportunities to seize. And for us, the opportunities are to accelerate in emerging markets and to create much closer ties than before, precisely to benefit from the somewhat repellent effect of the United States on at least part of the various markets, and to strengthen our strategic alliances.
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Host0:31
And so, what are, for example, your preferred strategic targets in emerging countries?
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Thierry Blandinières0:35
Well, clearly the countries of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is truly an incredible market for the future. We absolutely must establish ourselves there. We have created a commercial subsidiary and now certainly an industrial one to deploy our know-how and export French expertise. I recall that Algeria, unfortunately, is no longer a client. So this allows us to recover a new important market with more interesting economic ties, with development and investment projects in the country.
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Host1:04
Are you welcomed with open arms or not?
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Thierry Blandinières1:06
Well, we are not alone there because the Saudis also work with the Americans, the Russians, and the Chinese. So we have to find our place, but we are welcomed normally and they expect us. We have French know-how that interests these countries a lot, particularly in grain processing.
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Host1:20
In Ukraine, you have 500 employees there. You plan to build a port silo. We know how much Ukraine is a power in terms of wheat. How do you manage to continue working there?
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Thierry Blandinières1:33
There is no complex vision of the future. Well, we have started working again because we can now export from the ports of Odessa with a functioning insurance system. Six months ago, there was no insurance system, so we couldn't send ships to export, notably to the Middle East. Now it seems to be stabilizing. So we were reassured and decided to invest, knowing that there is a Marshall Plan for Ukraine's recovery, and we want to be part of that plan to also benefit from aid to build port silos and rebalance our trading business model. Because to perform well internationally, we cannot rely only on French and European grains. We must have other origins, and Ukraine is strategic for us to balance our economic model.
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Host2:14
To export, you also need to sell off assets. You have a plan to divest assets worth around 500 million euros. What do you want to sell?
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Thierry Blandinières2:20
We have many assets in our Invivo portfolio; we are a conglomerate with assets that are less strategic. For example, we divested Soufflet Food when we bought the Soufflet group, the elementary part to the Avril group. That was already three years ago. We sold an insect business we had in Africa to the Raseo fund. So that's cash coming in to help finance our international development focused on malt and grain processing of wheat and barley.
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Host2:47
Malt, you have become number one in the world, right?
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Thierry Blandinières2:50
Yes, number one in the world for a year since the acquisition of UMG, the Australian UMG. So we have consolidated and we continue to develop this platform to support our clients around the world. Our main clients, as you mentioned, are Diageo, AB InBev, and Carlsberg, who are expanding their breweries. We support them by creating malt houses and managing the upstream agricultural supply chain.
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Host3:11
We'll talk about beer and its development in a moment, but you just mentioned the word insect. You sold your activity in Africa, didn't the insect case in France interest you?
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Thierry Blandinières3:18
No, because we are not talking about the same insects. Insects in France are for animal nutrition, while ours are beneficial insects used in greenhouses for vegetable growing to avoid pesticides and be 100% natural. And since we are increasingly focused on large-scale field crops, vegetable and fruit growing, specialized crops are less strategic for Invivo. So we sold that branch. But the insect case in France that was up for takeover at the commercial court, you didn't even look at it because it went bankrupt. I know that case very well because we were initially funding the startup 10 years ago when we were in animal nutrition, and we saw the limits of the product's performance; there wasn't enough energy in the product for livestock feed compared to soy or other grains. So we knew it was difficult. They increasingly relied on lower-volume channels like pet food, which remain small markets and don't justify such a large factory. But we told them that five years ago. That's why we didn't follow up five years ago. So we are not going to get back into that case now, obviously.
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Host4:34
So that's it for the insect case. On the subject of beer, you work with Heineken, and there is a very strong development of non-alcoholic beer. They made the first product. For you, is that a very important outlet? Also, development in many countries that previously did not consume beer.
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Thierry Blandinières4:47
Yes, and it's interesting because in non-alcoholic beer, you need more malt for more flavor. So it's ultimately very virtuous. The more non-alcoholic beer we sell, the more malt we sell. And it's also very good for health. It's quite interesting for the quality of a premium beer. So we think it's a very interesting market, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia and others, because it provides very interesting additional outlets for malt and French know-how. More non-alcoholic beer, more malt.
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Host5:15
Exactly. That's great. That's virtuous. You see in terms of CSR.
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Thierry Blandinières5:19
That's why we are very, very interested in malting barley and especially non-alcoholic beer because it has incredible potential in the world over the next ten years.
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Host5:27
You talk about CSR, and you also have a project on low-carbon fertilizers. You are committed to FertigJ? I think it's Spanish, I'm not sure how to pronounce it. Where does the project stand? You have a factory project in Hauts-de-France.
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Thierry Blandinières5:41
Yes. So it's Ferty, fertilizer based on hydrogen actually. So it's Spanish, it's FertigJ F-A etc. The challenge is to localize fertilizer production, especially green fertilizers based on renewable energy. So it's a fantastic project, particularly in northern France, which would allow us to produce 500,000 tons of fertilizer. 500,000 tons of fertilizer correspond to 3 to 4 million tons of cereals that could be completely decarbonized. That's a long-term challenge because by the time the plant is set up, we'll be looking at 2030–2032. But that's also our vision of the world. I said in the introduction that we work on the long term, and this is another example showing that we have a long-term course to participate in the decarbonization of the sector.
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Host6:24
But there is decarbonization and then there is the issue of fertilizers with our dependence on Russia. Could we succeed in finding other sources, other fertilizers for all of agriculture?
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Thierry Blandinières6:39
Relocalize production because today we are very dependent on Russian imports, but also on other imports. So we relocate fertilizer production in France, which is perfect in terms of sovereignty, and then we are in a sustainable value chain approach because we are working on the fertilizer of tomorrow, the future fertilizer, green fertilizer that allows you to be competitive. Obviously, there are questions of price on all this.
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Host6:58
Yes, that's what I was going to say, especially the price of energy behind it.
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Thierry Blandinières7:01
Right, so today there is a difference of about 200 euros per ton, but it can be regulated because with the Russian taxes, the price might rise to 300, 400, 500 euros per ton, and at 500 euros per ton, this plant becomes very competitive and very virtuous. However, we have to be careful because this creates additional costs for farmers. So that means these costs would have to be passed on to the finished product. But on a baguette, we're talking about a few cents.
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Host7:25
Are you discussing with EDF to get, obviously, the price of energy? That's essential today.
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Thierry Blandinières7:31
So discussions are ongoing. We know there are tough discussions because it's important to have very competitive energy to make this type of investment.
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Host7:40
Good, on the retail distribution case, you worked with Guillaume Darrasse who comes from Teract. How do you view the situation of Auchan today?
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Thierry Blandinières7:47
Well, I don't have much commentary. I think he is a client. Guillaume Darrasse is a great CEO who has a heavy restructuring burden, and I think he is doing his job well today and that the Auchan group is moving in the right direction.
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Host8:02
Well, it's complicated on the franchise point. How do you view that case? You have difficulties with Carrefour with franchises saying they are not treated like others. At the same time, it seems to be the model that is clearly developing everywhere. It's yours too.
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Thierry Blandinières8:13
Yes. With Jardiland, that's what we are doing. We have branches, about a hundred branches, and we are considering a franchise model because what works in retail is independents because they are in the field. Structures that are too corporate are out of touch, not agile enough. We see that independent garden centers always perform better. That creates manager-entrepreneurs. I think that's very good. For example, we had Pomme de Pain, we sold to the CEO who started his own company. So we are very entrepreneurial in the group, and we favor the establishment of owners, especially in retail, and we will continue to think that way for Jardiland. So franchising is clearly the future because it's not just an economic issue, but also a service and agility issue in the field. A merchant must be in the field, in their store, and work every day.
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Host9:04
Thank you very much, Thierry Blandinières, for joining us this morning on the economic morning show. In a moment, we will return to Italy and the contentious issues. Emmanuel Macron is meeting with Giorgia Meloni today. There are some complicated industrial cases: Lantis, Italian and French banks, and also STMicroelectronics. We'll detail everything in the news. See you soon.
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