MEDEF Gard, the local branch of France’s largest business federation, is using its 2026 edition of “Place à l’Entreprise” to push a clear message: the Gard department can become a driver of growth for the wider Occitanie region in southern France.
The pitch comes as parts of the Gard’s business landscape are actively reshaping, with companies expanding through acquisitions, reorganizing their footprints, and building out local service-industry capacity. One example highlighted is ETS Baugey, based in Nîmes and operating in installation work—water, gas and electrical systems—with a presence in and around Castillon-du-Gard.
In recent years, ETS Baugey has carried out multiple external growth moves, buying business assets in the Gard to strengthen its regional position—an approach MEDEF Gard wants to spotlight as proof that local small and mid-sized firms can scale.
ETS Baugey raised its share capital to €31,000 in 2026
ETS Baugey changed its share capital on March 31, 2026, setting it at €31,000 (about $33,500), according to a legal notice published in France’s official business bulletin, the Bodacc, in April 2026.
The increase reflects a sharp step up from the company’s launch, when its capital stood at €1,000 (about $1,080). In between, the company acquired a main establishment in Castillon-du-Gard for €101,000 (about $109,000), then a secondary establishment for €110,000 (about $118,800), covering plumbing and electrical installation activities.
The company now has two active establishments outside its headquarters—one in Laudun-l’Ardoise and another in Uzès—after the gradual closure of several sites between 2021 and 2026.
MEDEF Gard wants service-focused SMEs to anchor local supply chains
That kind of trajectory is exactly what MEDEF Gard says it wants to amplify through Place à l’Entreprise 2026: demonstrating that the Gard has a dense network of small and mid-sized companies capable of organizing supply chains, investing, and creating durable jobs—enough to matter at the regional level.
The bet is industrial as well as symbolic. Positioning Occitanie’s economic momentum from the Gard would mean elevating local players within regional value chains, in a landscape where major metro areas such as Montpellier and Toulouse still capture most of the economic dynamism.
