690 jobs at risk as Colruyt buys most – but not all – Match and Smatch shops

Workers at several Match and Smatch supermarkets around Belgium are facing the risk of a mass redundancy programme after Colruyt Group announced plans to buy some - but not all - of the group's stores.

If an agreement that would allow Colruyt Group to purchase the Match and Profi subsidiaries of Louis Delhaize Group is approved by the Belgian Competition Authority, the transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

The takeover would affect 28 Match shops and 29 Smatch shops in Belgium.

The shops involved together achieved sales of around €300 million in 2022 and the current 1,069 employees would keep their jobs and employment conditions, Colruyt Group said.

Those shops, “which are geographically complementary to the Colruyt network”, will be evaluated over the coming months to determine the most appropriate rebranding (OKay, Colruyt, etc), with the outcome dependent on the size of the shop, the local market and customer needs.

But neither Colruyt nor another buyer has indicated interest in the remaining 27 shops and logistics services.

“In the absence of an alternative solution, management announced at an extraordinary works council meeting its intention to resort to a mass redundancy procedure, an intention that could affect a maximum of 690 jobs,” Match and Smatch said in a statement.

The six Match shops concerned are in Beaumont, Binche, Fleurus, Leuze-en-Hainaut, Mouscron and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. Some 19 Smatch shops are affected, including the one in Mechelen.

The two Louis Delhaize grocery shops affected are Kessel-Lo and Thulin.

The 57 shops to be taken over by Colruyt include 24 Match supermarkets, including the ones in Ghent, Namur, Saint-Gilles, Stockel and Forest.

Some 20 Smatch shops are due to be taken over by Colruyt, including those in Groot-Bijgaarden, Machelen and Schaerbeek.

The group also plans to buy six Louis Delhaize grocery shops and seven franchised stores operating under the Match and Smatch brands.

Fabrice, a manager of a Match warehouse who has worked for the company for 18 years, told RTBF he felt “shocked” and worried about the future.

“We started out with a Renault [redundancy] procedure, so we already know that for the warehouse here, there's very little chance of us getting any buyers," Fabrice said, referring to the procedure under Belgian labour that ensures a legally mandatory consultation period if an employer intends to proceed with mass layoffs.

“It's going to do a lot of damage. The figures weren't good, so we were expecting a takeover, but not that some of the staff would be let go.”

Another worker who has spent 33 years with the company and is also a union delegate said: “It's very hard to think that Match is disappearing. It's our brand. It's really, really hard.”

But inflation, wage indexation, the energy crisis, rising rents and soaring raw material prices have put the Belgian retail sector under immense pressure, according to Christophe Garcia, managing director of Match Belgium.

In Belgium, staff costs are 25 to 30% higher than in neighbouring countries. Added to that are waste tax and social charges not seen elsewhere.

“A sale of our shops to an operator such as Colruyt, which has genuine market leadership, is likely to preserve as many of our jobs as possible and provide prospects for our shops,” Garcia said.

Some union members say a strike is likely, and “action cannot be ruled out”.

“The Renault procedure involves an initial information phase during which the unions and management sit down to explore other solutions,” said unionist Catherine Roisin, adding that unions hope a social dialogue will lead to the emergence of alternatives to the activation of the Renault law.

Roisin fears that, as with Delhaize and Mestdagh, the thousand or so workers taken over by Colruyt “will fall into the hands of franchisees, with all the consequences that implies (loss of purchasing power, lack of union representation, a more restrictive working week).”

Louis Delhaize Group is in the process of gradually selling off its shops, signing takeover agreements with Carrefour for all the Match and Smatch chains in France (60 hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets) and with E Leclerc for two hypermarkets and 25 supermarkets and convenience stores in Luxembourg.

Those recent sales have raised fears of a “domino effect” on all the group's assets, including the Belgian Cora shops, which are in financial difficulty and employ some 2,000 workers.

"This leaves Cora workers worried because it's the same group,” said Myriam Delmée, president of the SETca trade union. “For months we've been witnessing a sell-off of the group by international management.”

Photo: Jonas Roossens/Belga