French textiles group Chargeurs has announced it is changing its name to Compagnie Chargeurs Invest. The switch completes the family company’s decade-long transformation process. The company controls Britain’s Cambridge Satchel Company.

The name change, which will be formally approved at the AGM scheduled on April 29, follows the takeover bid launched last spring by Groupe Familial Fribourg, which now holds a 67% stake in Chargeurs. The group currently operates through three divisions: Culture & Education, Fashion & Know-how (including Chargeurs PCC and the luxury fibres business), and Advanced Materials (Novacel).

“The new name fully expresses the group’s twin industrial and financial orientation, and its specialisation in managing a portfolio of assets with high added value,” said CEO Michaël Fribourg. The latter has been at the helm for 10 years, and has prompted the group to adopt a hybrid industrial business model, with the mission of backing the development of world-leading products.

In 2023, the Chargeurs group’s revenue fell by 6.9%, handicapped by the results of the Advanced Materials division, whose revenue dropped by 17.3% in the year.

Chargeurs stated that, between July and September 2024, it generated a revenue of €165.3 million, equivalent to an 11.2% rise, and a 10.5% one in like-for-like terms, making it the third consecutive quarter in which growth exceeded 10%.

Chargeurs has recently set up a division specialised in shirt-making, comprising some of its proprietary brands, like Swiss specialists Alumo and Eugster & Huber, as well as the Brennet brand, which will be repositioned, focusing chiefly on innovation.