Bic in the time of hirsute hipsters, smartphones and disappearing-ink pens
Geneva — Smoking rates have been falling for decades, smartphones and tablets are replacing pen and paper, and beards are all the rage. It’s no wonder investors have turned their backs on Société Bic. Shares in the French maker of lighters, pens and razors have slumped 40% from their 2015 peak. The family-controlled company that built a global brand in the 1960s and 1970s with brightly coloured products and kicky marketing, is now struggling to catch up with rivals that have embraced online sales and shifting consumer trends. Analysts and investors aren’t ready to call the bottom yet: the stock has the lowest analyst rating of any similarly sized household products or office supplies company in Europe, and the highest percentage of shares sold short, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit. "Bic is a company at a standstill," said Yorick Cazal, an independent wealth manager in Lausanne, Switzerland, who sold his shares in Bic a few years ago. "The problem is the distribut...
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