Stéphane Plaza affair: a disaster for his real estate agencies, which are already suffering?

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The postponement of the trial of Stéphane Plaza, for violence against two former partners, prolongs the period of uncertainty to which his network of real estate agencies has been prey for almost a year. And this, while the real estate crisis is being felt on his accounts.

“My relatives tell me: I saw that again on Stephane Plaza on TV, I hope it won’t harm your agency’s business too much…” This franchisee of the Stéphane Plaza Immobilier network says he is somewhat disillusioned after the twists and turns that occurred this week in the “Plaza affair”. trial of the star presenter of M6 and co-founder of the eponymous real estate agency network, for violence against two former partners – accusations he denies -, was due to open on August 28 before the Paris judicial court. But it was postponed until January 9, due to the absence of the main person concerned. Stéphane Plaza did not not presented at the hearing due to psychological fragility, his lawyers explained.

“Four more months of waiting…”sighs the franchisee. Who does not think of renewing his franchise agreement when it ends. “And I’m not the only one in the network asking myself this question.”he assures. He admits to being tired of a case that started almost a year ago, with the publication, by Mediapart, of the testimonies of three former partners of Stéphane Plaza, then the opening, by the public prosecutor, of an investigation for domestic violence in October 2023. He is particularly worried about the psychiatric counter-expertise requested by the court to assess the state of health of Stéphane Plaza, which the expert must deliver on December 18: “It’s not good for our image…” Already this week, with the news surrounding the false start of the trial, one of his colleagues was refused a sales mandate on the grounds that:“He works for Stéphane Plaza.”

Stéphane Plaza France’s profit fell by 30% in 2023

These knee-jerk reactions from prospects are probably not common. But they worry the franchisee in question, in the context of a real estate crisis started two years ago and is still going strong. A real estate crisis “deep”underlines Stéphane Plaza France, the structure that oversees the Stéphane Plaza Immobilier agency network, in the presentation of its 2023 accounts, filed on August 12 with the Nanterre commercial court registry and published on Infogreffe. A document that reports a turnover down 15% compared to 2022, while it had been growing constantly since the network began in 2017, according to the Pappers website.

Net profit fell by 30% in 2023, to 8.9 million euros, while it had also been increasing steadily since 2017. A profit allocated entirely to the distribution of dividends to shareholders, including M6 (51%) and Stéphane Plaza (25.5%), the balance going to the president of Stéphane Plaza France, Patrick-Michel Khider de Lusigny, and to the heirs of Bernard de Crémiers, another co-founder of the network who has now disappeared. Approached by Capital, Patrick-Michel Khider de Lusigny “confirms the figures” – published on Infogreffe… – but will not say more about these poor performances.