Our Value Chain



OUR BUSINESS MODEL


Our identity

THERMADOR GROUPE brings together companies that distribute fluid circulation equipment and accessories for the construction and industrial sectors, as well as heavy tooling for the general public and professionals. Our customers are wholesalers of heating and sanitary equipment, pumps, valves and fittings, industrial supplies, manufacturers and all those involved in DIY. Our suppliers are manufacturers of those products throughout the world. Since the creation of Thermador Groupe, in 1968, people have always been at the heart of our values.

 

Our Group has built its growth with respect for its teams, shareholders, customers, suppliers, other stakeholders and the environment. Our values are trust, transparency, simplicity and good human relations.

 

Our values

" OUR GROWTH IS SUSTAINABLE AND RESPECTS OUR ECOSYSTEM."

Each employee, whatever his or her function, can exchange ideas with his or her peers in inter-subsidiary working groups. This is particularly true in the area of management, where sharing good practices is a very effective method for encouraging everyone to progress and ensuring overall cohesion. However, there is no ‘Group HR Director’. Within each of the Group’s subsidiaries, the CEO - in close collaboration with the administrative department - and the local managers must assume full responsibility for their teams. It all starts with recruitment, a tricky art that we practice with humility and simplicity.

In the end, we believe that collective decisions are the safest. Along individual career paths, we strive to allow each person to develop his or her talents, according to his or her merits and abilities. We cultivate the virtues of exemplarity, transparency, respect and a fair share of the profits of our work.

" THE FUTURE VALUE OF THE GROUP IS IN THE HANDS OF ITS MANAGERS AND STAFF, THIS IS WHY WE STRIVE TO HELP OUR HUMAN RESOURCES GROW. "

Giving meaning to what everyone does. We attach importance to length of service amongst our employees. Preserving the motivation of our employees is therefore essential, since they stay with us in our subsidiaries for an average of 10 years. This involves thinking about the tasks entrusted to them, their development and the meaning given to each person’s contribution.

Choosing to keep close to our employees. Our management teams are clearly responsible for the quality of the social climate that prevails in the subsidiaries and we encourage benevolence, friendliness, simplicity and calm.

A very short chain of command. Our compressed hierarchical structure, limited to four levels, favours proximity between the managers and all employees.

Testimony of one of our employees during the Covid crisis. "Communication from our management was always very fluid throughout the period, because our organisation chart is pretty flat and we’re naturally close to our bosses. The crisis was well-managed, the whole team was committed to customer satisfaction and reacted unfailingly to keep up with demand."* However, this proximity is no longer sufficient today to collect all the ideas, remarks, suggestions and gripes of the women and men who work in each of our subsidiaries. Since 2017, we have submitted a quality-of-life-at-work survey questionnaire to our employees every three years. They have clearly taken to this new means of expression, as 94% of them responded in 2017 and 93% in 2021. The surveys give rise to action plans in the subsidiaries in order to address the remarks made via the anonymous questionnaire. In this way, we believe we have a committed, competent, efficient and generally loyal workforce. When a departure seems inevitable, we strive to be fair, dignified and maintain good relations with those who leave us. The importance of exemplarity and transparency. All of this allows us – requires us even – to be highly demanding at every level of the company, for the greater benefit of all. Transparency of salaries in our subsidiaries is an effective means of preserving equal pay regardless of gender, religious conviction, political opinion, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, family status, nationality, surname or physical appearance. With the acquisition of 9 companies and one business since 2015, our challenge is to open up to other corporate cultures while gradually spreading our core values. These values must endure and constitute the cement of the Group.

*Quote from the testimony of Jacques Schiele. Sectoriel employee (Letter to shareholders n°100 of January 2021)


Our business model

Thermador Groupe is a player in specialised distribution. Our subsidiaries provide the interface between manufacturers and wholesalers, DIY stores, factories and swimming pool professionals, e-commerce sites and marketplaces. Our subsidiaries go beyond the role of distributor. As responsible actors, they select sustainable products (meeting standards in the areas of safety, health and energy consumption) and develop our ranges towards even more environmentally responsible products.

Our businesses and business model are presented on pages 4-17. Thermador Groupe reports turnover of €486.5m. Our vision, strategy and current challenges are presented in the Chairman’s statement (page 3) and on pages 10 and 11 of URD. Our governance is described on pages 28 to 39 of URD.

 

OUR RESOURCES

FINANCIALHUMANECOSYSTEMSUPPLY CHAINMATERIALSINTELLECTUAL
Equity: €279m.
Diluted shareholding with
8.339 shareholders institutional
investors (48.5%), private
investors (40.9 %) and 10.6%
held by executives. managers
and employees.
Cash position: €27m.
Debt: €28.2m.
Our teams are made up of
of men and women:
712 employees (representing
701 equivalent full-time posts)
Distribution:
32.000 partner-customers
- 98,052 m² of storage space.
- 1,029 finished product
suppliers.
- Energy: water, electricity
and gas for warehouses and
offices, diesel for road and sea
transport.
- Use of cardboard, wooden
pallets and stretch film for
shipment packaging.
Innovation:
4 design offices
in our subsidiaries.

 


OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

FINANCIALHUMANECOSYSTEMSUPPLY CHAINMATERIALSINTELLECTUAL
Turnover €486.5m,
up 23%.
Net result. as a portion
of the Group: €52.9m
up 46.2%.
Dividends paid each
year, without ever having
decreased.
Survey on the quality of life at work:
93% of employees responded.
72% of employees trained within the year.
Internal mobility: 2 people in 2021.
Staff turnover rate: 12.9%.
Average length of service: 9.68 years.
Accident frequency rate: 7.95.
39% women in management positions.
25% of our employees benefit from profit-sharing
and 86% of all our employees receive a variable
component in their earnings.
Variable remuneration earnings represent 20%
of total.
Factory visits and
supplier audits.
Longstanding
suppliers:
22% of our purchases
are from suppliers
who have been our
partners for over
40 years.
50,396 tonnes shipped.
Tonnage
received:
17,993 tonnes.
Number of
containers
received:
2,702
(20-foot
equivalent)
CO2 emissions/tonne of products purchased.
CO2 emissions/tonne of products sold.
69% of electricity consumed on a green contract
91% of waste recycled.
Electronic waste contribution: €409k.
5 of our subsidiaries -
representing 33% of
turnover - are ISO
9001 certified.
3 of our subsidiaries
are registered training
bodies and deliver
training to our
customers





Suppliers


We visit our production sites ourselves, and check that our suppliers’ employees are well treated.





Employees


The future value of the group is in the hands of the management and their people in each of the subsidiaries




Employees

Permanent contracts

Training hours

Years' service

Absenteism




2021 Universal Registration Document