Gérard Bélorgey

"Gérard Bélorgey thinks that the Company does not have the means to continue and develop its activities in the field of clothing (except shirts) which is too subject to the vagaries of fashion and without being able to control its own distribution. We must continue to divest non-strategic activities such as carpets, ropes, or fishing nets. He advocates a refocus on the upstream branches: apparel and furnishing fabrics, plastic packaging, flax, hygiene products, and household linens. For him, it is still too early to bring partners into the profitable business sectors."

"For René Mayer, the return to profitability first requires maximizing the use of production tools. But to sell quantities, prices must be slashed and often sales are made at a loss. Gérard Bélorgey notes in his memoirs: "At his first meeting with the executives, he is pleased that sheet sales have doubled. We lose 2 francs for every meter sold..." Instead of announcing a return to profits, the increase in turnover is publicized. This dumping infuriates competitors who cry scandal. The subsidies granted to Boussac result in completely distorting competition in the market, particularly in the areas of upholstery fabrics and household linens."

"As part of the group's restructuring operations, she enters into agreements with the AFPA (Association for Adult Vocational Training), for the establishment of training workshops specially designed and subsidized to adapt the staff concerned to new tasks. The new hygiene product production sites created from the conversion of textile factories have all benefited from these services. Gérard Bélorgey will enhance these resources by offering potential buyers of deficit-running activities, possibilities for internal financing within the group. He creates a financial institution named AUFINEC which will be managed by a banking specialist, Claude Deligny, specially hired for this purpose."

"• He announces a takeover plan supported by a contribution of one and a half billion francs... excuse me for the little... Speaking of the Ferinel agreement, for him, this choice would betray "the nullity or complicity" of the State, and would amount to letting the group be dismantled to the benefit of an operator who only thinks of doing "real estate." He denounces the volatility of the brothers with the devastating slogan: "an agreement with the Willots is a weather agreement", while knowing that the solution to the BSF case must still go through them... For public authorities, the matter seems settled. They want things to move quickly. Gérard Bélorgey recounts: "One late November evening, on the snow-slush-covered highway between Lille and the coal mining district... I received a phone call from Matignon. Being the CEO of CBSF, and also the president of the subsidiary AUFINEC, which was central to the setup of the 1983 agreement with the Willots, and finally a signatory to various litigations we were forced into to clear the matter, I was indispensable. I was ordered to urgently go to Rue de Varenne to sign all necessary withdrawals so that the agreement sealed between the Willots and Bernard Arnault could be implemented..."