Hervé Maupin

""A sin confessed is half forgiven..." Popular saying"

"The need for cash flow continues to grow, and the president's star continues to fade...""

"On this occasion, the company publishes a very detailed information document on what it calls: "1984, the state of play.""

"It is true that nearly one billion francs were consumed in just over two years: one third in investments, one third in restructuring costs, and the rest in working capital needs and operating losses. However, turnover has increased by 36.5% in current francs, particularly thanks to the extremely rapid development of the hygiene business. The restructuring effort was considerable. In two years, the number of industrial sites was reduced from 97 to 75, thanks to disposals or closures of establishments. At the same time, the workforce decreased from 20,260 employees in May 1982 to 15,974 in August 1984, ending at 14,990 by the end of December 1984. During the same period, 328 million in investments were made. The "baby" has become much more presentable to interest investors and to enable them to complete the enormous grooming that has just been carried out at the taxpayer's expense... At the top of the Company, the wind is turning. During the preparation of the 1985 budget, a deep disagreement appears between the chairman and his CEO."

"The Willot brothers have left the business scene for more than thirty years now. Generations born at the end of the thirty glorious years probably do not even know their name. And yet their feats of arms, at the time, largely made headlines and deserve to be told. This is the subject of the book by Hervé Maupin, who participated as an actor with them in the structuring of the sclerotic sector of the textile industry caught off guard by too rapid opening of borders. Originating from the middle bourgeoisie of the North, at the head of a modest family business, the Willot brothers will, through force of energy, common sense, and ingenuity, overturn an industrial world trapped in past splendors. Their methods and physical appearance made them favored targets of journalists and caricaturists. Very soon, they were nicknamed the "Daltons." Daring and conquering, they cheerfully trampled on the turf of the establishment. Their binge of acquisitions, a real headlong rush, eventually caused them to bite the dust. The economic and social stakes they represented with the arrival of the Left in power in 1981 led to a pseudo-nationalization of their industrial activities."