With Seico, electronic board manufacturer Cofidur EMS will manage three modernized plants
With Seico, electronic board manufacturer Cofidur EMS will manage three modernized plants
Following its acquisition of Seico in July, electronic subcontractor Cofidur EMS is opening new doors to markets such as prototyping, small production runs, and more. The company is also preparing to welcome new clients—especially once renovations are completed across its three French sites.
The acquisition, first announced in April, was officially finalized in early July 2024. Cofidur EMS took over another electronics subcontractor, Seico, based in Malville (Loire-Atlantique), near Nantes. Founded in 1981, the SME, with 100 employees, generated €15.7 million in revenue in 2023. The deal brings the total workforce of the Laval-based group to 500 people.
Ambitions Already Surpassed
While Seico’s former CEO, Eric Lamboley, was seeking to sell the company ahead of his retirement, the leadership team at Cofidur EMS seized the opportunity. When the seven managing executives acquired Cofidur EMS in July 2021, they had announced plans for sustained organic growth, aiming for €80 million in revenue by 2025.
“That plan also involved external growth,” explains Cofidur EMS President Laurent Dupoiron. “For two years, we were actively looking for opportunities. With Seico, we’ve already exceeded our targets—we expect to reach €100 million in revenue by the end of 2024. We had already seen 30% growth last year. By integrating Seico into Cofidur, one plus one could well equal two and a half.”
From Prototyping to Major Accounts
The relevance of the acquisition lies in its complementarity at every level.
“There are clear advantages to being a highly certified company like Cofidur and working with large contractors,” continues Laurent Dupoiron. “The downside is we’re less flexible for certain markets. Seico, on the other hand, is highly responsive for making prototypes, developing innovation kits—for startups, for example—and producing small batches. That could allow us to bring back Cofidur clients who currently work with other companies at the early stages of their projects before ordering from us. With Seico, we’ll be able to offer the most complete service possible—from design to industrialization.”
Preserving Seico’s Agility
“It’s also to preserve this expertise and agility that we assured Seico’s teams there would be no changes to staffing or internal operations,” adds Gilles Delaunay, HR Director of Cofidur EMS. The Malville plant will be headed by Hervé Olry, another partner-executive in the group and Director of Upstream Operations and Industrial Partnerships. The geographical proximity between the group’s Laval HQ and the Malville factory will help support the new teams and facilitate the integration process.
“The downside,” notes the president, “is that now we’ll both be prospecting in the same territory…”
Three Plants, Three Major Projects
Cofidur EMS now operates three plants: Laval, Malville (near Nantes), and Périgueux (Dordogne). Each site is currently undergoing significant investment. Even before its acquisition, Seico had launched a major industrial project: after purchasing a neighboring 10,000 m² lot, it expanded its facility by over 2,000 m², investing €5 million in infrastructure and machines capable of placing 30,000 electronic components per hour.
As Seico’s former president Eric Lamboley explained in 2023: “The goal is to meet the demand of current and future customers.”
Laval to Reclaim Its Full Surface Area
At the 30,000 m² Laval plant, demolition of the section damaged by a March 2023 fire has just been completed.
“We should begin reconstruction in the fall, with work lasting about six months. This section will be reserved for prospecting,” says Gilles Delaunay. “In a new air-conditioned building, we’ll be able to tell clients: ‘Here’s what we can adapt for your production needs.’”
One new client is already employing about twenty workers at the site: startup Qiara, which manufactures all its connected home security devices (except cameras) in Laval.
“In the long run, it could represent a good volume,” foresees Delaunay.
Growth Outlook for Périgueux Site
The Périgueux site mainly serves military and aerospace markets and is expected to benefit from favorable conditions in the coming years.
“Airbus has announced a more than 50% increase in orders over the next ten years,” notes Laurent Dupoiron. As a tier-2 supplier, Cofidur aims to take advantage of this momentum.
The plant is undergoing construction to expand the production area by 1,000 m².
“We have two buildings over fifty years old that are thermal sieves. And between them is a patio, which is not very industrial,” says Dupoiron. The new building will link the two wings of the U-shaped site, ultimately creating 8,000 m² of space.
“This will allow us to optimize workflows. We’re also renovating the façade, improving insulation, and building new staff facilities,” adds Delaunay. The project will likely last 18 months, with a €3 million total budget.
Thirty new jobs could be created starting in 2026.
Source: Le Journal des Entreprises
