Build and secure a transformation plan to sustainably restore profitability.
Context
A French specialty retail player, operating a network of more than 1,500 stores, is facing a deteriorating financial trajectory and high levels of debt. In this context, the Executive Management engages Albus Partners to identify and secure an ambitious cost reduction plan across the general expenses of its core business, in order to restore financial flexibility and drive a sustainable recovery in operational performance.
Our approach
The engagement is structured around four complementary workstreams:
Organization & workforce: review of processes and areas of responsibility across each function, identification of activities to be insourced, outsourced, or shared, and optimization of governance, notably through the reorganization of headquarters functions and departments, supported by a dedicated social plan (collective redundancy plan and voluntary departure schemes).
Non-merchandise procurement: identification of activities to discontinue or outsource, and reduction of uncontrolled spend through price renegotiation, volume optimization, or scope adjustments — notably through a store back-office supplies outsourcing assessment (product sourcing and logistics), carried through to the RFP process and supplier selection.
Projects: analysis of ongoing and upcoming business cases, prioritization based on ROI, consolidation of cash requirements over an 18-month period, and securing the discontinuation of costs related to completed projects.
Savings governance: establishment of a PMO responsible for aligning requirements with business functions, building an automated savings tracking solution, and deploying a governance framework ensuring the effective delivery of the cost reduction plan, before handing over the mechanism to the Transformation Department for long-term monitoring.
Results
Annualized EBITDA improvement of €30M, in line with the initial ambition.
Target organization deployed across all support functions, with a controlled social transition.
Rationalized portfolio of projects and non-core procurement strategy.
Structured performance management framework transferred to internal teams, ensuring the sustainability of savings tracking.
