Slowly but surely, Dushow continues its march forward, welcoming into the group Fa Musique, Frédéric André’s little gem of a company in Rhône.

Just three years after a story on the birth of Dushow group, we went back to take stock of this flagship of French service together with the president, Eric Alvergnat.
It’s always interesting to spend time with a man who prefers to hang PA over having to deal with words.

Fa Musique joins Dushow, along with its employees

SLU : So, a new star has been added to the Dushow constellation: Fa Musique.

Eric Alvergnat : Yes, following our “soft integration” model. We spoke for years with Frédéric André about its entry into the group. The day we pressed a little more on the throttle, now two years ago, the first thing we did, even before talking about money, was to get together in Valence with the employees of Fa Musique and its subsidiary S-Audio – managed by Jean-Paul Tridon – to discuss their opinions and how we would work together.

Frédéric “Kerde” Kerdekachian was, of course, on hand since it is he who will take over the presidency at Fa on the 1st of January 2016, while Fred will stay with us for the next two years. We won the support of a large number of employees and, therefore, we got under way.
Otherwise, I don’t think that we would have completed the transaction. This is a “very old style” method, which may seem unusual or even caricatured, but that’s how we want it. This approach will not last as long as taxes (laughs).

SLU : What happens then with the companies that are joining your group ?

Eric Alvergnat : From the outset, we standardize the accounting structures. This is imperative for two reasons: first, it allows us to read the activity and performance of all companies in the group in the same way.
The second reason is for the consolidation of figures. Companies must be treated identically, account by account, so that the consolidated results are consistent. For the rest, the companies continue to work according to their initial methods and, gradually, team spirit is created. It’s quite soft and smooth.
It has been constructed with Philippe Borentin, our long-time accounting and finance expert. We started out together more than 30 years ago and have created or acquired more than 40 companies together. He’s the legal “Lucky Luke”; before we have time to finish explaining the proposal, he has already laid out the statutes!

SLU : Dushow remains a completely private group, but with its increasing size, have you not considered putting it on the public market? Have you received outside capital or was it basically your own funds?