Orléans (France) (AFP) – Less than a year after the disappearance of Brandt, almost one former employee in two of the French large household appliances group's factories has returned to professional activity, according to official figures communicated to AFP on Wednesday.
Published on: 09/30/2026 - 2:28 p.m.
Until its liquidation last December, the former century-old flagship (Brandt, Vedette, Sauter and De Dietrich brands) employed around 700 people, including 310 in its factory near Orléans, located in Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle (Loiret), and 96 in that of Saint-Ouen, near Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher).
Among the 352 former employees of these two industrial sites registered with France Travail, 168 are currently active, or nearly 48%, according to official figures.
For former employees of Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, 43% of them (110 out of the 256 monitored) found employment, including 59 on permanent contracts, according to figures sent to AFP by the Loiret prefecture, which indicates that it itself recruited one of these former employees.
Concerning the Loir-et-Cher site, 58 people out of 96 are currently working, or 60% of former employees, while 14 others are engaged in a retraining project and four in a business creation project.
These figures are described as “rather good” by France Travail.
The probability of finding salaried employment in the private sector, one year after termination of the contract, was estimated between 42 and 47% for people made redundant or having signed a conventional termination, in an INSEE note dated 2023.
The prefectures of the two departments, France Travail and the Centre-Val de Loire region carry out actions ranging from job search assistance to training.
“Support means seeing people, giving them enough confidence to go and get a job, training or have a retraining project,” declared the prefect of Loir-et-Cher, Joseph Zimet, to AFP.
Recalling the “traumatic” nature of Brandt’s disappearance, Joseph Zimet assured that all former employees of Saint-Ouen “at the end of 2026 will have found a solution”.
Around sixty former employees have also initiated appeals to contest the conditions of the liquidation of the group and their dismissal. A hearing before the Blois industrial tribunal is scheduled for October 20, their lawyer Fyodor Rilov told AFP.
After the liquidation of Brandt, the group's brands and stocks were resold in March for 18.6 million euros to Cafom (French Purchasing Center for Overseas), distributor of home equipment in the overseas territories.
© 2026 AFP
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