Thierry was born in 1960, graduated from Audencia and HEC, and you've been through many large groups. So a little memory from the company Procter, for example, a memory Thierry, don't redo everything. Yes, yes, Gamble, does that ring a bell in the 80s?
Yeah.
Well, a very process-oriented American company where we tried to learn to structure our mindset. You know, when you come from a business school, you're not very structured. So Procter helped us a lot in marketing, sales, to professionalize the approach. That was a great experience in France and England with this American company. I left because you shouldn't stay too long, otherwise you become sclerotic. And then you have to emancipate yourself. Yes, for example, yes.
So Madrange, for example, that beautiful brand, you were the boss of Madrange in the 90s with Jean Bonstar at the time when we launched the communication with Véronique Janu, does that ring a bell for you young people? Or the older ones? The older ones, right. So it's a ham, in fact, we created the reference for ham in the 80s, notably with sliced ham. You see now you have sliced ham, right or not?
Right, Jean-Pierre Cof was teasing our competitor who had a technology. I'll get a bit into the technology, but it was under vacuum, modified atmosphere. So we launched the freshness tray with a superior quality product. We disrupted the market and now it's the standard, the little freshness trays, we launched them in 91.
Comteste du Barry Delpera, that's the foie gras.
Right.
Well, that was a relaunch of the activity at Delpeyrat. First, I should say that I had worked at Labeyrie in between, between Madrange and Procter. So I knew the sector well as marketing director. When they called me, it was to turn around Delpeyrat, which was losing a lot of money in Mont-de-Marsan. So I got stuck in and we did a great turnaround in 4 years. A company that was losing 20 million on 80 million in sales, in 4-5 years it grew to 600 million in sales, 20 million in profit. So that's a bit of my specialty, you'll see later, turnarounds, the ability to recreate value through brand, structuring, buildup, external growth.
So 2013, since 2013, Thierry, you are within the InVivo group. So for those who don't know you, what is this giant? What kind of business does it correspond to, sales and number of employees all combined?
So in 2013, InVivo was about 3-4 billion euros in sales. Today it's 12 billion, and we developed the group quickly in 10 years. It's an agricultural group at its core. We collect cereals, sell cereals, sell inputs to farmers and cooperatives, and then we process. We are the first miller in France with the Soufflet brand. We bought it 4 years ago, first maltster in the world today. And we are also present in retail gardening with Jardiland, Gamm Vert. Yeah, it's a conglomerate of brands. And this group continues to grow. We do 12 billion today. We have an ambition, I won't give a figure today because I'm being recorded, but we will still grow by 2030, but rather internationally. We have a real international ambition in all countries of the world from malt to structuring the agricultural sector. So we work on that. And in these times, it's good to travel the world, you see, because it's very diverse, and we really get to discuss, and we have the French voice of agriculture when we are in Saudi Arabia alongside Americans, Chinese, but we also make France exist in global geopolitics because wheat is essential. He asked Putin, he understood.
Where are we exactly regarding the Ukraine-Russia war? Where are we on prices, production? What is the state of affairs?
We are living with a lot of volatility, since the Covid crisis. So it goes up, down, up, down. You have to manage that. Right now, prices are lower, it went very high. So we have to pilot this volatility as best as possible. That's our know-how in trading. And to continue to ensure liquidity in the French market for all farmers. If we weren't there, it would be even worse for French agriculture because they would have to sell at market prices to Chinese and American multinationals that would come essentially if the price is low. So we guarantee them an income with the Chicago price, and that allows them to secure their volume. You should know that in France, one ton of wheat out of two is exported, and we export half of it. You see, we play an essential role in French farming.
Climate change, all the climate issues that concern especially all insurers and especially Jean-Laurent Granier, the president of Generali. That also changes the game, a great rugby fan if needed. That also changes the game. How are the cereal farmers or French agriculture adapting according to you, Thierry, or not?
So there are big debates with the insurance system, but it's not simple today to insure agriculture, is it? We know. It's not easy because the risks are significant and covering the climate risk is very difficult. We were talking about the Gers earlier, I think. There is a region in the Gers where storms fall every year in the same place. Farmers can't insure at all. It's a disaster area because it's not exceptional, it's every year, there are storms. Every year, it's a catastrophe. So there is no longer any insurance. That means we are evolving in terms of the French production model. We have to adapt to global warming, and we did a big study for 2050 to see how French agriculture will evolve. I don't want to tell you everything, but there will be very significant changes in production in France. You have to imagine that we will have the climate of Barcelona in Brive, you see, the climate of Barcelona in Corrèze. That's what will happen in the next 20 years. So I take advantage of that, with all the impacts on production, what will we produce in these regions? I'll just mention that we are opening the White Business in Barcelona on June 18th. Thank you, Thierry. So don't hesitate to come in large numbers. And on October 9th in Madrid.
Thierry, uh, President Trump, what do you think of this guy?
It wasn't planned, but it's a question. Yeah. It's not a surprise. We knew him in 2016. So now he has gained confidence. So he's even more virulent than in 2016. You see? After that, it's hard to follow what he's doing. You know that well. But that means we have to stay cool because we are impacted with exports, it goes back and forth. So we try to stay cool, as they say, find solutions, a problem-solution approach. So if there are taxes in a country, we'll sell in another country. Because nature abhors a vacuum. So if you put a barrier there, there's another door. That's agility. So we work a lot on that and we accelerate our international projects today. Going to India, for example, we have a malt house in India, in South Africa, Brazil, China, Australia. And that allows us to have Saudi Arabia, new clients, and to emancipate ourselves a bit from the American market. Well, too bad for him. The Mexican president, you saw what she declared, it's great. She said, 'You're going to create barriers in your country, the world will revolve around the United States, and you'll be an island, isolated.' She's not wrong. That's what's happening today. We're organizing around the United States.
Thierry has been a loyal Wizes member for 30 years. Well, we're all old here. You personally, did you play rugby? We saw that Christophe played when you were a student in Nantes, which is a beautiful team in Nantes anyway. Yeah.
First, I was born in Brive, so I did all the rugby school. Then I went to Nantes to study. So I played with Stade Nantais for 4-5 years.
