France's leading independent replicator QOL has been placed in the hands of administrators - redressement judiciaire - for a period of six months. Accounting for some 40% of the domestic Blu-ray disc replication market, the Vernouillet (Eure-et-Loir)-based company is €5.6 million in the red.

The dire financial situation is attributed to a sharp fall in disc sales. "We had expected a 15% growth in 2013," CEO Laurent Villaume told Les Echos. "In fact, the French market contracted by 8% while it was still progressing in the UK, Germany or the US." Video downloading - legal or not - and the price too high of Blu-ray discs compared to DVDs are the reasons for the dire results. Furthermore, unlike in 2012, there was no cinema blockbuster to boost video sales.

Established in 2000 to press CDs and DVDs, QOL pioneered Blu-ray replication in Europe in 2006. The company has never been slow to embrace new technologies. It pressed the first 3D Blu-ray disc and moved into micro-publishing (micro-édition) - an advanced version of manufacturing-on-demand that integrates all operations associated with B2C including data treatment, website logistics and sales on behalf of video publishers. This service generated a reported €1 million turnover out of a total of €12.8 million last year.

With a staff of 150, QOL invested a total of around €45 million in plant and equipment since the beginning. In 2009, despite the difficult economic climate, QOL engaged in an ill-fated European expansion with the acquisition of Belgium disc manufacturer Vogue Trading Video (VTV) - a subsidiary of Roularta Media Group. Located in Courtrai, Belgium, VTV had a 10,000 square meter plant with a daily capacity of 200,000 CDs and 100,000 DVDs.

QOL was also banking on the nascent Blu-ray high-definition audio format - use of the Blu-ray disc to offer original uncompressed studio master recordings. The company is a founding member of the High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group launched in London last June by Universal Music (watch video interview). The format's slow take-off is not helped by timid marketing and continuing squabble with msm-Studios, the German progenitor of the Pure Audio Blu-ray format. "There have been missteps in bringing the product to market, but I am convinced of its bright future," said Villaume to The Echos.

Options to salvage QOL include securing fresh cash to relieve the treasury or finding investors capable of taking up the company's industrial challenges, writes L'écho républicain. In the meantime, some 107 jobs are reported to be threatened.

Story filed 20.02.14