The group from Marseilles, the whiz-kid of the New Market, will not have an Internet adventure any longer and focuses on its main job: telephony distribution.
Avenir Telecom, the group from Marseilles and former whiz-kid of the New Market, definitely closes the door of the Internet adventure. This adventure was a real pain for year 2000-2001 (net loss of 37.8 million euros on June 30th 2001 for a turnover increasing to 1 billion euros, whilst the previous year ended with profits of 31.4 million).
The group has thus decided to quit the Internet activities to focus on telephony distribution, its main job. A social plan initiated in September goes with withdrawal (the loss of 180 posts, which means the two-third of staffs, has already been announced).
Jean-Daniel Beurnier, the CEO, started this Internet adventure in 1999 through the Net-up subsidiary. With, among others, the e-pack formula (a computer and an Internet access offer), Avenir Telecom thought they could seduce some 400.000 subscribers by the end of June 2001. But this aim has never been achieved (285.000 subscribers according to the group), which has burdened the counts with around sixty million euros, as the formula needed a big amount of cash.
That’s why they have quickly changed their policy to come back to what they know the best and in which the group has been so successful. As far as the security is concerned (1.05 euros at the closure on Tuesday October 9), it is 20 times as less as what was expected late 1999, early 2000. During the Internet boom…