A glimpse across the border

The CMF Group, one of the big players among the manufacturers of greenhouses in France, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The company completes between 50 and 80 commercial plant nurseries and garden centres per year. These include both new-build facilities and projects involving the modernisation of existing buildings. In addition to traditional nursery gardens and garden centres the company’s customers also include DIY stores. However, here CMF is responsible only for the greenhouses, not for the DIY store building itself. “We work for all the major names in DIY retailing,” reports managing director Renaud Josse. CMF also attends to all aspects of heating, air-conditioning and shade provision in the buildings, as it works on a turnkey basis. The group has a total workforce of 220 and operates two production facilities, plus several development offices. It is structured in three business units, each of which accounts for an approximately equal share of total sales to the tune of some € 40 mio at the last count. Its activities in the field of greenhouses are combined in CMF Bâtiment. The building of garden centres makes up around half of the sales revenue in this business segment, or around 15 to 20 per cent in terms of the group as a whole. The second business unit, CMF Cultures, specialises in production greenhouses. International activities are carried out through CMF Export, which concentrates mainly on the construction of production greenhouses. One of the most recent international projects has caused a certain stir: two research greenhouses in Mexico at an altitude of 2 200 m. “CMF’s activities in the garden centre area are principally concentrated on the French market, where we are one of the two big suppliers,” says managing director Josse. Though there are plans for increasing the company’s involvement in the export area, as Josse explains, pointing to projects from the recent past in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. However, the economic crisis has slightly dampened activities in southern Europe in recent years. In terms of scale, the projects in France seldom exceed the limit of 6 000 m² of covered sales area, which has to do with the legal requirements and additional conditions that apply to anything above this size. What is more, thanks to market forces and customer preferences, today’s trend is moving towards smaller buildings, by contrast with the big garden centres constructed by the company in major cities during…