The French company Brandt, a major producer of household appliances, was officially liquidated in December of last year. Following this, nearly half of its former employees have found new jobs, according to figures provided to AFP by official sources. Before its liquidation, Brandt employed around 700 people, including 310 at its factory in Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle (Loiret) and 96 at its Saint-Ouen (Loir-et-Cher) facility. Of the 352 former employees from these two sites registered with France Travail, a public employment agency, 168 are now working, or about 48%. At Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle, 43% of the 256 former employees followed have found employment, with 59 in permanent roles. The prefecture of Loiret reported that one of these individuals has already been hired by the local administration. At Saint-Ouen, 58 out of 96 former employees are currently working, or 60% of the total, while 14 are pursuing career changes and four are starting their own businesses. These results are described as "fairly good" by France Travail. According to a 2023 report by INSEE, France's national statistics office, the probability of finding employment in the private sector within one year of losing a job was estimated between 42% and 47% for those who were fired or reached a mutual termination agreement. In response, local authorities, including the prefectures of Loiret and Loir-et-Cher, France Travail, and the Centre-Val de Loire region, are offering various forms of support, such as job search assistance and training programs. "Support means seeing people, giving them enough confidence to go get a job, a training, or have a career change project," said Joseph Zimet, the prefect of Loir-et-Cher, in an interview with AFP. He acknowledged the "traumatic" nature of Brandt's closure and assured that all former employees from Saint-Ouen would have found a solution by the end of 2026. In addition, approximately sixty former employees have filed lawsuits to challenge the conditions of the liquidation and their dismissals. A hearing in the labor court of Blois is scheduled for October 20, according to their lawyer, Me Fiodor Rilov. After the liquidation of Brandt, the company's brands and inventory were sold in March for 18.6 million euros to Cafom, a French distributor of home equipment in overseas territories. This sale marked the end of Brandt's operations in France, as its assets were transferred to a new entity focused on serving overseas markets.