Profiles of Chargeurs and DMC

The two French companies Chargeurs and DMC are diversified concerns with global interests. Both have faced difficult trading conditions in recent years and both have made considerable efforts to refocus and streamline their businesses.

Chargeurs has weathered the vicissitudes of the past few years rather better than DMC, and claims world leadership in four main areas?wool processing, wool-based fabrics, interlinings and protective films. The group has introduced a programme of corporate reengineering which releases cash for investment, acquisition and share buy-backs, and minimises working capital requirements.

DMC has been forced to refocus its activities, having incurred net losses averaging 11.3% of its turnover between 1996 and 2000. In particular, the company has withdrawn from the printed fabrics sector, formerly an important business for the group, and has been withdrawing from the household textiles and trimmings sectors. DMC has chosen instead to concentrate on the crafts sector?within which

DMC is a world leader in embroidery thread?and on casualwear. The US apparel industry has been changing rapidly since the mid- 1990s. Although it has benefited from strong economic growth, it has been increasingly squeezed by a shift in discretionary consumer expenditure to other items. It has also suffered from rapid import growth, although a significant and growing proportion of imports is controlled by apparel manufacturers themselves.

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