9 Février 2012
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Rédigé par Michel BOVAS le Dimanche 29 Mars 2009
Lu 8987 fois

LSO international : en liquidation

l'entreprise va licencier ses 54 salariés


Sans repreneur, le tribunal de commerce d’Antibes a déclaré la liquidation de LSO International, l’une des plus importantes sociétés françaises spécialisée dans le réceptif incentive et tourisme d’affaires.



LSO international : en liquidation
Les hôteliers, restaurateurs, transporteurs, loueurs de sites sur la Côte d’Azur pour les grandes manifestations professionnelles ont du souci à se faire…

La disparition de LSO International risque de conduire les organisateurs à faire appel à des prescripteurs extérieurs moins commodes au niveau des contrats.

C’est donc un mauvais coup pour le tourisme d’affaires de la Côte d’Azur au moment où les autorités locales CRT en tête entament une grande campagne de séduction internationale de la destination pour l’accueil de congrès, salons ou incentive.

Lso International, dont le siège est à Sophia-Antipolis, va licencier ses 54 salariés. Un premier plan social était déjà intervenu à la fin 2008 avec 38 personnes dont plus de vingt au siège. La société avait été fondée en 1979 par Lenny Spangberg.

Elle avait été revendue en 2002 à un groupe hollandais. Le plan de poursuite de l'activité proposait le maintien de cinq emplois. Mais considérant l’importance du passif le tribunal a estimé que LSO n'était plus viable selon le dirigeant de la société, Menno C.L. Meyer.

LSO disposait également de quatre autres implantations à Monaco, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon et Paris. Les difficultés remontent à trois ans, la société comptait alors une centaine de salariés. La crise, depuis septembre, a donné le coup de grâce.

Menno Meyer, qui a pris la direction de l'entreprise en octobre 2008, met directement en cause "une gestion hasardeuse conduite par les précédents dirigeants de l'entreprise depuis deux, trois ans et par un refus des actionnaires de soutenir la société. Il n’exclut pas d’interpeller les tribunaux."

La région perd un acteur local

Pour la Côte d’Azur, la disparition de LSO va au-delà de la simple disparation d’une entreprise. La région qui veut conserver sa place sur le marché du tourisme d’affaires perd un acteur local.

Ce qui signifie à terme que les grands congrès ou manifestations qui se dérouleront à Cannes, Nice ou Monaco feront intervenir des sociétés extérieures qui en l’absence de point d’ancrage locale ne feront pas de cadeaux aux prescripteurs locaux (restaurants, hôtels, transporteurs…). Or la plupart de ces sociétés sont étrangères

Michel BOVAS
Notez

Tags : côte d'azur, lso international, réceptif



1.Posté par Anette Falkner, Sr. Account Executive, Maritz Travel Company le 01/04/2009 16:23
Good you removed the nasty LSO comments. Unfortunately we at Maritz did get insights into the "soul" of what is left there. We highly recommend you be kinder to our Maritz friends representing us in France. Wendy is a valued partner and friend. - Epouv.. is our website big enough for you?

Sorry to see Lenny and Michael go. They did an excellent job for our programs in the past. It appears the aquisition and its managment failed to maintain all that Lenny built over the years. Perhaps Epouv... all your anger should be focused on where it belongs!
http://www.maritz.com

2.Posté par sisi le 01/04/2009 16:29
"Good you removed the nasty LSO comments"... a load of CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!

3.Posté par Michael Freeland le 02/04/2009 09:33
I have had enough of people talking with forked tongues and behaving like spoilt children since the 16th February.
I spent 19 incredible years working for LSO during which time we developed the most efficient Destination and Event Management Compant in Southern France and Monaco. A team of truly exceptional people, many known internally as Michael's angels. Together we operated over 1500 seamless and highly creative programs for North American incentive houses and corporations. I thank Anette Falkner sincerely for her wonderful support.There are many many other clients out there who I know will agree with her.
I am disappointed and somewhat angry when reading the second paragraph of Michel Bovas's comments. This is quite simly not true. Our destination has always had the good fortune to partner with the very best and loyal local suppliers and there is NO valid reason that it should not continue doing so.
As for me, I am currently ' reinventing' myself. When this has been achieved, our industry will be hearing from me!!!
Michael J.S. Freeland
ex Exec VP Sales & Marketing- LSO International- North America.

4.Posté par Laurent du Var le 02/04/2009 15:36
Dear Michael,
I am looking forward hearing from you after you'll have reinvented yourself. I would
hate to see such a great amount of knowledge and experience falling into oblivion.
But pray tell us how did you as the chief mate not see the Eisberg and how did you not tell the lowly seamen what was going to happen when the captain jumped ship to leave everybody else to sink like a lead duck. Did you really think a new captain coming from a much smaller boat could steer you into a safe haven ? Did you really think that throwing the lower grades from deck into the sea of crisis without any consideration at all would keep you afloat ? How about some real information? LSO is dead there is no neeed for smoke and noise anymore....

5.Posté par Michael Freeland le 02/04/2009 18:57
Dear Laurent,
I appreciate your recognition of my abilities. However, I must point out immediately that like your spelling of iceberg, your assumption that I was the chief mate, is totally false. I would respectfully remind you that my responsibilities were Sales and Marketing for North America, as everyone was always aware. The financial tsumi hit me, as it did everyone else, at precisely the same time. For the past few weeks,, I would not wish 10% of the unannounced ' hell' I have experienced on my worst enemy. It is thus be to the Managing Director, by pure defintion, that your obversations and questions should be addressed.
Ipsa scienta potestas est - but this instance you will have to look elsewhere.


6.Posté par Laurent du Var le 02/04/2009 20:00
Dear Michael,
I could hardly imagine anyone doubting your competences, but that is not the question du jour - and I trade you an iceberg against your tsumi unless you're into shintô.
I know what you were responsible for and I hope you'll forgive me my assumption that a VP knew what was going on finacially in the firm he co-founded. My bad.
As for the 10 % of the 'unannounced' hell you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, well that's where we're different. At least I hope you didn't suffer as much as the young Project Managers still paying back student - loans, single mothers, an entire family and everybody else who'll be on their way to the "Pole emploi" next week. Don't worry about questions being asked - there are a great many people burning to bring them up. And for the clever latin "knowledge is power" thingy I beg to differ, it's what you do with it which matters. And now for something completely different....

7.Posté par TiTi le 03/04/2009 10:26
Please tell us all how airing your dirty laundry on a public site is at all productive? Perhaps you two should meet for lunch and discuss in person like real men. It is a great loss to our industry to see LSO fall, and i am sure we all feel for those that lost their jobs. Does knowing all the ugly secrets before the collapse change anything at all? The foundation of LSO was deteriating long before it fell. I am certain those under its roof could read the signs. Why blame a colleague when the problems were clearly deeper than one persons responsibilty... the Dutch bank, New owners, mismanagment of funds. How about all those suppliers in the South that suffer from the hundreds of thousands of Euro they are owed after delivering the services in good faith. Imagine having your own company and providing all that is necessary to make your client' program successful and then not getting paid. Under french law the employees of LSO are protected to such an extent that they will not starve, however business owners enjoy no such protection. This is not Michael' fault anymore than it is yours du Var. The lack of integrity ultimately lies within the persons responsible for handling the finances. It happens in life and all we little folks can do is move on and learn from it.

8.Posté par Laurent du Var le 04/04/2009 16:15
Airing dirty laundry in public is in my humble opinion productive.
Don't worry about us being "real" men, when on a public site disagreeing to a
written statement you need to attack the text and not the writer.
Knowing the ugly secrets before the fall will help us tremendously learn to evite certain mistakes in the future, that is how you progress - and prevent to get hit by a financial Tsunami - again. The foundation of an incoming agency are the employer and the employees - I didn't see any deteriation there - at all. Problems were deeper than one persons responsability , that's why we need to know what happened. BCD - not a bank. I imagine having a company not getting payed for services rendered, well I would like to know why. As for the employees not starving: they should be gratefull ! So maybe it is not Michaels fault and it is certainly not mine but it is sombodies fault all right and we need to get closure knowing what excactly had happened. Describing yourself as "little people" needing to move on à la : "Circulez il n'y a rien à voir" is a fatalist concept unworthy of every intelligent, ambitious human being like I know Michael Freeland to be.

9.Posté par TiTi le 04/04/2009 19:31
Ok, well good you and Michael kissed and made up. I have diverted you.. it's worth it. I still don't understand how you could not see it coming for months? Business was down, suppliers were calling the office every day asking to get paid... LSO oweing over 200,000 Euro to good honest businesses suppliers. By us little people, (lost in translation apparently), we only mean that in the end we are all little and growing every day, no matter if we have a net worth of 22 million or zero. Trust me.

10.Posté par Jean-Paul Ritrovato le 07/04/2009 20:06
I feel pretty sad for everyone that worked at LSO and for LSO. I had great satisfaction and pleasure myself having worked with LSO the last 20 years. I met wonderful people at the office and on site, very professional and very gentle. To me, the company is synonymous of a Golden Age in Business Tourism that will never return. I'm very grateful too, because I also had the opportunity to learn a lot and improve my technical abilities on the many programmes, I've been working on. I want to bring Mike Freeland, that I have always considered and honest and loyal man, all of my sincere support and friendship.

11.Posté par roselyne sanchez le 08/09/2009 19:06
Michael Freeland,
I'm so sad . LSO was a great company and I really enjoyed working for so talented people. Lenny has always been a great person no one should deny it. I am sorry for you. Lenny was a fabulous creator ...He organized wonderful events and worked so hard. The two of you were the soul of this company.Take care.
There is always a morning after .


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