Pnus Unimax, Point S to cooperate in Canada

BOUCHERVILLE, Quebec (Sept. 13, 2012) — Pneus Unimax Ltee., a dealers' cooperative operating under the Unipneu banner throughout Quebec and neighboring provinces, is joing forces with France's Point S Development, a buying and retail marketing cooperative active in 27 countries worldwide.

Lyon, France-based Point S and Independent Tire Dealer Group (ITDG) signed a similar pact last year covering the ITDG's 350 dealer outlets throughout the U.S.

The Unipneu network consists of 75 stakeholders operating 116 points of sale, predominantly in Quebec (112) with two each in Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces, according the firm's website. Unimax also operates a “sub-dealer” program, called Mega-Pneu, for garages or mechanical repair shops that looking for a tire supply program; there are 231 Mega-Pneu locations.

Unipneu dealers throughout Quebec apparently will continue to use the Unipneu identity/signage, because of the “significant customer awareness” the network has achieved in Quebec, and will use the Point S signage/image in underdeveloped areas of Quebec and in other provinces.

In announcing the agreement, Pneus Unimax stressed that it and Point S are “independent dealer networks that share the same philosophy” and that “numerous similarities between both networks were conducive to exchanges between the managements of both companies from the outset.”

The management of both organizations “very quickly realized the strong similarities and the market challenges they were encountering and that numerous opportunities for synergy in the interest of both groups lay ahead.”

Pneus Unimax did not elaborate on growth expecations related to the deal, for did it  divulge any financial details of the deal.

Point S comprises more than 1,200 independent dealers operating more than 2,400 points of sale throughout 24 European countries, the U.S. and South Africa. Earlier this year it struck distribution deals with groups in Estonia, Slovenia, South Africa and Sweden.

Collectively the members sell more than 12 million tires annually, including about 1 million in its own Summerstar and Winterstar brand, made by Continental A.G.