Press release: GBH makes a statement
In recent weeks, our group has been the subject of an unprecedented destabilisation campaign. Wild figures are being presented to the public, in an attempt to back up misinformation and misleading conclusions. Therefore, we need to set the record straight.
In response to the “financial opacity” allegations, the GBH group, like 88% of Overseas France companies and 71% Ile-de-France companies, submitted its accounts every year to the tax authorities and competition authorities, but not to the commercial court, due to the risk of these data being used by our competitors on small island markets.
Mindsets towards this have changed, and so has the GBH Group's.
The accounts for our food distribution activities were filed with the Fort-de-France Commercial Court a number of months ago. At the end of 2024, we filed our company accounts for the last five years, followed by our consolidated accounts in January 2025. We will do this every year from now on.
We also refute any accusations of “anti-competitive practices” or even “choking the economy”.
The truth is that our group is one of the most tightly publicly regulated in Overseas France, in terms of taxation, social affairs, competition safeguarding and even ethics. Our integrity has never been questioned, nor has our behaviour on the markets where we operate.
The truth is also that competition is very fierce in Overseas France, particularly in the mass-retail and motor-vehicle sectors. No one can tell consumers which store to go to for their shopping or in order buy their car. If they come to us rather than our competitors, it is because we are cheaper, or because we offer them a better service. However, it is impossible to be cheaper while there are excessive mark-ups: this is a basic business reality.
Finally, the truth is that prices are higher in overseas territories for a number of reasons that are fully outlined in the 2009 and 2019 Competition Authority reports. The main factor increasing the cost of living is the cost of transporting goods to each territory: this is only logical, as a large propotion of what we consume is still imported from Mainland France, which is thousands of kilometres away.
Consumers want prices to fall and they are correct in that. However, prices will not come down by unfairly identifying easy scapegoats. The protocol signed on 16 October 2024 in Martinique underlines, from the opening sentences of its introduction, that the majority of the price differential between Mainland France and Martinique is charged in the approach costs. The diagnosis is clear, and we must tackle this issue urgently as a priority, as the State committed to by signing the protocol of 16 October.
We are not scared of the truth. All of the authorities that regulate us regularly stress that we are behaving properly. The work of the Competition Authority, Départemente Competition and Fraud Prevention Directorates, and the tax departments must now be respected and protected from media and political interference.
We stand fully ready to assist the supervisory authorities and actively cooperate with any investigation relating to us or our markets.
In the next few days, we will file a complaint against X for false accusations.
Combatting the cost of living crisis deserves more than slanderous attacks against companies that are working every day to offer high-quality products at the best possible prices. We call on everyone to take responsibility for stopping the targeted destabilisation of our group, and for respecting our employees and their families.