Business in France

It started as a distributor of lighting products 25 years ago. Today, it is blazing the trail for competitively priced, energy-efficient smart home solutions in France. STARLIGHT SAS is a dynamically evolving, medium-sized enterprise that is revolutionizing the way, home automation works. What distinguishes the company’s systems from competitors’ products is not primarily their first-rate technology but their outstanding affordability.

One of the most dynamic sectors of corporate finance is mergers and acquisitions. Hundreds of companies change hands for a variety of different reasons each year with big and not-so-big transactions taking place around the world. DC Advisory advises and oversees around 200 such transactions each year. Of these, more than half involve cross-border expertise – something DC Advisory possesses in abundance.

Modern production process chains are made up of multiple links all operating in concert. Manufacturers of semi-finished products or manufacturing service providers play a key role in this chain. One such company is ATS Laser SAS in France. It specializes in cutting, bending and welding metal semi-finished components and is the largest of three companies united under the aegis of Holding Tournié. It has 86 employees and generates an annual turnover of 15 million EUR. The cornerstone of the group, ATS Laser is now looking at developing its own product range.

For many years, the philosophy of ‘bigger is better’ could be applied to many products and areas of industry. Today, however, the reverse is often true, particularly in the field of electronics; devices, and consequently their components, are constantly decreasing in size, demanding higher levels of precision and quality. French company Nicomatic SA is a specialist in the field of micro-connectors, and is embracing the trend for miniaturization.

Today, the terms big data and artificial intelligence are on everyone’s lips, however, the proportion of companies that truly use the insights and advantages big data can confer to inform their strategic planning is still relatively small. Most pay mere lip service to the trend by buying the relevant software and equipment but then failing to interpret and analyze the resulting data correctly. Founded in Paris in 2006 by four university friends, Ekimetrics was set up with the aim of bringing big data to the front office. The intention was to gather information that could be used as the basis for effective market strategies.

Support of women in start-ups and technical trades and an extended offer of equal opportunities to both sexes in the sector – that is what the France-based organization StartHer put on its agenda. Co-Director Joanna Kirk talked in an interview with European Business about the fact that men are part of the solution and the way to the future must be shared.

They ensure an excellent thermal and sound insulation, are extremely robust, resistant to corrosion and rust and virtually maintenance-free; they are environmentally sustainable as they can be recycled easily; they combine both performance and aesthetics as they come in many different finishings and colours – aluminium windows. Sepalumic SAS from Mouans-Sartoux is a highly acclaimed producer of aluminium profiles and facades and keen to embrace new markets – especially in Africa.

Disrupting well-established markets, such as healthcare, often requires pioneering for innovative technologies. That is exactly what Echosens has done with FibroScan®, its flagship liver health product. Developed from the PHD research of founder Laurent Sandrin, Echosens non-invasive diagnostics and monitoring technology has radically improved and simplified the diagnosis of liver health. But how is a successful start-up leveraging its growth beyond its revolutionary flagship product? For new CEO Sven Henrichwark, the key has been taking a fresh look at why the firm has flourished, and what made it great in the first place.

In 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen first discovered the x-ray to look into the human body indirectly from the outside. Before the advent of radiology, it was only upon a patient’s death that the internal organs could be studied. Doctors could only examine the outside of a body while the internal structures were mostly hidden. In its relatively brief history since Röntgen’s revolutionary discovery, radiology has come a long way and now occupies a pivotal position in health care. In the eastern suburbs of Paris, le Centre d’Imagerie Médicale du Galilée, a state-of-the-art radiology center, focuses on the health of its patients.

The rise of e-cigarettes or ‘vaping’ is to be welcomed as studies have shown that the risks of consuming nicotine by inhaling vapours produced by an e-cigarette are much lower than those associated with inhaling the smoke produced by burning tobacco. It was the desire to wean his two sons off smoking that encouraged Didier Martzel to begin his research into e-cigarettes in 2005 and register his first patent for a ‘cigarette substitute’ during that year. Three years were necessary to set up Gaïatrend’s foundation, followed by the launch of its first e-liquid brand named Alfaliquid in 2010, under the aegis of his eldest son, Olivier.