Published: November 01, 2010
Pomona is among the leading players in the distribution of processed foodstuffs to professionals, and declared a turnover of over EUR 2.6 bn in 2009: its clients are commercial and institutional caterers – with companies such as Sodexo, Elior or Compass – local shops, or even supermarket distribution. Its activity is organised by product – fruit and vegetables and fresh seafood, frozen and fresh food, groceries, products for bakeries and pastry shops. The company, which employs 8,600 people and works from 140 sites, deals with a million tonnes of produce per year, almost exclusively in France. Although Pomona, which be 100 years old in two years’ time, is very stable when it comes to shareholding, with a family holding of 74% of the capital and a significant employee ownership, its organisation is very decentralised: each site is set up as a profit centre with commercial, logistics, administrative and financial teams.
No. Our operational decentralisation, which best suits our national network, contrasts with a very centralised method of liquidity management. For a long time, liquidity has been centrally managed with the help of a banking cash pool shared among a few big banks which have historically also been our partners in other matters. This process was formalised in 2005, with on one hand the transition from five to three financial establishments, and on the other the renegotiation of the ‘receipts and disbursements after one working day’ policy. This desire for centralisation can be seen in the manner in which we integrate businesses that we buy out: we link them as quickly as possible to the cash pool and we almost immediately concentrate banking powers at headquarters. We are also planning to purchase some software which allows us to follow more accurately accounting trends in operational sites, with the aim of further optimising the working capital.
Each site is set up as a profit centre with commercial. logistics, administrative and financial teams.
Yes, we are lucky enough to be net investors throughout the year, which gives us certain negotiating powers with our banking partners, which we don’t hesitate to use in the area of asset management. Having said that, in this area, group policy is quite conservative: we choose the funds above all for their capacity to guarantee capital and for their liquidity, whilst we get additional return with certificates of deposit and fixed term accounts. I will add that with asset management, taking into account particularly the persistent weakness of short-term interest rates, we are starting a review which could lead to a more extensive diversification of investments.
The company, which constantly worries about keeping its independence, is mostly self-financed, and has available a cash surplus, net of any debt. The little debt that exists is in real estate, by way of leases, most of which are coming to an end anyway. Indeed, in 2009, we changed our tune when it came to financing two big warehouses: we approached our banks with tenders for traditional loans, the result of which proved to be conclusive, in terms of price. When it comes to currency, the issue is marginal, with half a dozen accounts in pounds sterling, dollars and Swiss francs and cover by purchases or forward sales, the only aim of which is securing the gross margin.
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We chose to transfer to Etebac 5 in 2007, of course with full knowledge of the facts, knowing that the protocol was coming to an end: our aim was to end the dematerialisation project which has been very advanced for a long time by putting in place a system of electronic signatures, in a context of progressive transition of the different commercial networks to a new ERP. We will look at the transition to the new banking communication protocol in depth, that is to say, examine the advantages and disadvantages of SwiftNet, despite the fact that, on first analysis, Ebics would be the logical choice, and is easy to put in place after our experiences of Etebac 5.
The migration to European transfers will take place after the change in the protocol for banking communication and should not present insurmountable problems in so far as the ERP is responsible for transferring banking co-ordinates over to BIC-Iban.
The company is mostly self-financed, and has available a cash surplus, net of any debt.
One full-time person is responsible more specifically for daily treasury activity, because it falls to me to supervise ‘client risk’, which means watching over and helping the administrative and financial managers at our sites, along with supervising relations with credit insurance companies and negotiating with companies when, for example, there are problems with an important client
My career has encompassed different experiences in the financial sector: I joined Pomona in 1991, straight after my university studies, which consisted of a Masters in business law, completed by a Masters in auditing of companies at Paris Descartes University. I was recruited into this business as an internal auditor, then I moved to consolidation, before undertaking the responsibility for tax affairs, then client risk and finally, in 2005, the treasury.
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