Confirming a report in a local daily newspaper, officials of Boardriders say that its management informed representatives of its staff at its two sites in the Basque region of France last week that they will have to work in the future at a single location at Saint-Jean de Luz, where the former Quiksilver Europe recently expanded its head office.
Billabong Europe's present office and warehouse in Hossegor, which employs 170 people, will be closed, entailing the elimination of 62 jobs, including 34 members of the office personnel and 28 warehouse workers. The remaining 108 employees are being asked to move to Saint-Jean de Luz, which is only 40 kilometers away. A shuttle service will be placed at their disposal.
The reorganization should be completed by the end of May. Until then, Boardriders will conduct a legally binding consultation process with the employees, ending up with a project that will be submitted to local authorities for approval.
Boardriders added that it plans to create 58 new jobs at Saint-Jean de Luz, especially in marketing, brand development and direct-to-consumer operations.
As previously reported, Billabong, which also owns Element and RVCA, merged last year with the former Quiksilver group, which also includes Roxy and DC Shoes, to form a single global entity called Boardriders.
Together, all the brands of the group generate annual sales of around €600 million in Europe, but only one-quarter of that turnover is represented by Billabong, Element and RVCA. Louis Rodrigues, who formerly ran Billabong Europe, was appointed last year European director for wholesale operations, reporting to Thomas Chambolle, European president of Boardriders. No major changes in management have taken place since then.
