Former Tour de France yellow jersey maker placed into receivership

The French sportswear manufacturer Le Coq Sportif has been placed into receivership in order to respond to "challenges" facing the brand and to "protect its 330 employees".

The former provider of the Tour de France yellow jersey also provided kit to the French Olympic Federation during the summer games in Paris, including for Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte when they rode to silver and bronze medals in the men’s Olympic road race behind the winner, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel.

Last month, the firm’s parent company Airesis announced that Le Coq Sportif was facing “significant financial pressures” and requested the opening of a receivership procedure with a Paris court. Airesis then announced on Friday that this has now been formalised and has begun.

Despite its reported cash flow difficulties, the parent company of the popular kit brand said that it had hoped an upturn in sales would materialise in the wake of the Paris Olympics.

"Le Coq Sportif is using this procedure to respond to the challenges facing the brand, while wanting to protect its 330 employees and hundreds of indirect jobs," Airesis said in a statement on Friday.

"This recovery period is also an opportunity for the company to be able to initiate and finalise discussions with new investors and strategic partners in order to perpetuate its activity and strengthen its economic model ," it continued.

Le Coq Sportif was the official yellow jersey provider during Tadej Pogačar’s first two Tour victories in 2020 and 2021 at the height of the Covid pandemic. The firm’s deal with the Tour organiser, the Amaury Sports Organisation [ASO], ended at the end of 2021. Italian kit brand Santini took over for 2022 and has provided the yellow jersey for the last three years.

Receivership is a protective measure for a company suffering financial difficulties. It is a formal legal process in which a company’s assets are taken over by a receiver, who is usually a creditor, in order to help recover debts.

According to a report in French newspaper Le Monde, Le Coq Sportif’s first-half financial results, published at the end of September, show that the firm posted a loss of €18.2 million (£15.2m million/$19 million) compared to a loss of €10.5 million (£8.8 million/$11 million) in the first half of last year.

The kit manufacturer also took out a €2.9 million (£2.4 million/$3 million) loan from the Paris 2024 organising committee in May 2024. The report in Le Monde says that the firm still has €150,000 (£125,000/$157,000) to be repaid.