Have more than doubled sales of Covid related product ranges
Headquartered in Apt, South of France, Delta Plus designs, manufactures and distributes a full range of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worldwide. In an interview with Fibre2fashion, David Guiho, group marketing director, Delta Plus, discusses about the changes in the PPE market in the post- pandemic world, its recent acquisition of Artex and future expansion plans.
Please give us a background of Delta Plus and how was the company formed?
Delta Plus Group is a family-owned company created in 1977. The headquarter is in Apt, in the South of France.
Delta Plus Group designs, manufactures, and distributes a complete range of equipment for the protection of individuals (PPE) in Europe and throughout the world.
Thanks to its expertise, R&D investment (25 people, €4 million), 13 production sites, global location and services, Delta Plus is a major worldwide player today, chosen for its multi-specialised global offer, variety of innovative and affordable products and proximity to its partners.
Today, the Delta Plus group covers more than 110 countries with 40 distribution subsidiaries and its grand export department, which helps it to remain close to its customers throughout the world. The company employs 3,000 people worldwide.
What is the share of Delta Plus in the worldwide PPE market?
Delta Plus is one of the leading manufacturing brand in the world PPE industry with a turnover of €290 million in 2020. For the last ten years, we have grown at an average rate of 7 per cent per year. We are ranked as the top 3 manufacturers in several key markets. Our top 3 markets are China, US and France.
How have trends changed in the PPE market pre- and post-the pandemic?
The PPE industry is a growing sector thanks to the rising concern of the population safety. National regulations are also raising the required level of protection for the workers. This trend is widely getting spread in all regions of the world. The pandemic is expected to speed up the pace of these changes.
Another trend was the concentration of the industry which used to be made of a large number of single product family and local manufacturers. Delta Plus is playing an active role in that sense, with 5 company acquisitions within the last 18 months.
The PPE industry is directly related to the pandemic, and the one that the world is currently dependent on. It will drive changes in the product assortment and supply chains.
What kind of growth is seen in your niche due to the pandemic?
2020 PPE industry growth is outstanding for the Covid related product ranges like medical masks, single use nonwoven coveralls, single use gloves. But the regular PPE range sales include fall, hearing, foot protection suffered from the economic activity slowdown and production shortages.
Delta Plus Group has more than doubled the sales of the Covid related product ranges and remained stable on the other categories. We managed shortages by supplying our customers in priority. In 2020, the group results strengthened its positions on the market.
Where is your subsidiary in India based at? How many people are employed there?
We are based at Kolkata in West Bengal province. We have around 500 employees locally. We recently started to sell to the Indian market as well.
Who is your joint venture partner in India who helps you in the manufacture of shoes?
Since 2004, we are the owner of the Indian manufacturing site. We design 100 per cent of the shoe product range and manufacture around 75 per cent of the quantities that we sell.
Where are your production sites based at?
We currently have 13 manufacturing plants located in Asia, US and Europe. Those sites handle various references across the 5 product families. We manufacture 100 per cent of the whole fall protection ranges internally, including webbing.
Which are the major export markets?
Our export department covers all countries where we do not have an established sales office. Africa is the main area covered by this department.
What is the sales turnover for the export market?
We roughly do 50 per cent of our sales turnover outside of Europe. From the beginning, Delta Plus Group has grown thanks to the emerging markets where the safety industry was just starting. As a result, we do have a strong expertise in developing these markets.
What are your expectations as a company with the recent acquisition of Artex?
For the first time, since the creation of Delta Plus Group in 1977, we are setting up a branch in Germany. Artex is the main activity that we will be pushing in 2021. The goal is to grow Delta Plus's complete product portfolio from this strongly established company specialising in fall protection.
Any other new acquisition on the cards?
We have a structured M&A department which is very active on the market in order to identify potential new targets. Due to the number of recent acquisitions, we are concentrating on the integration of those new organisations into the group.
As this is a strategic axis of development, more acquisitions will definitely come in the coming years.
Would you like to get into any new product category in the PPE market?
We are already covering a large variety of categories within the PPE industry. Only a few actors are doing this at the moment. This is a strength but an everyday challenge to make sure that we develop all these subjects in parallel.
As far as it makes sense with our strategy, we are open to consider new categories, but this is not a priority at this moment.
What are your expansion plans like in the next 5 years?
We have two main development axes: geographic expansion and upgrade of the offering. As recently announced, we are reinforcing our positions in the North and South American markets. We are studying any opportunity that could strengthen our positions in mature markets or where we do not have a branch yet. (PC)
Published on: 01/03/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
