In eight years, the cumulative losses of Matines amount to 114 million euros and they have worsened since 2021.
Victim of the opprobrium cast on eggs from caged hens, Matines is preparing to cease its activity. The company, taken over in 2014 by Avril, the French number one in eggs, announced on Thursday the scheduled shutdown of its activities in the fall of 2022, if no buyer appears by then. It conditions eggs (900,000 last year, against 1.6 billion when it was taken over) in three centers and has a storage site. It employs 172 people in total.
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The activity of Matines, for a long time a reference brand in its sector, was strongly penalized by the restrictions imposed in 2018 and 2021 by the government on the breeding of hens in cages, and more broadly by the evolution of the consumption of eggs. Customers have gradually abandoned standard eggs in favor of eggs from free-range hens. In recent years, Matines has undertaken to transform its activity by packaging more alternative, organic or label eggs. It was aiming for 100% alternative eggs by 2025. But that meant adapting its industrial tool.
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The activity of Matines, for a long time a reference brand in its sector, was strongly penalized by the restrictions imposed in 2018 and 2021 by the government on the breeding of hens in cages, and more broadly by the evolution of the consumption of eggs. Customers have gradually abandoned standard eggs in favor of eggs from free-range hens. In recent years, Matines has undertaken to transform its activity by packaging more alternative, organic or label eggs. It was aiming for 100% alternative eggs by 2025. But that meant adapting its industrial tool.
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