The L’Oréal group has announced its will to relocate its manufacturing and research activities located in Monaco. The Sofamo factory in Fontvieille, currently manufacturing Biotherm and Helena Rubenstein products will subsequently close its doors on March 31, 2011.

The geographic situation of the factory would be the main reason of the closure. “Today, the factory’s competitiveness is strongly deteriorated with no possible improvement,” L’Oréal explained in a release.

Sofamo’s manufacturing activities will be transferred to the Sicos factory in Coudry (Northern France) while the research and development laboratories will be moved to Chevilly-la-Rue, close to Paris.

The company’s management indicated that the plan called for no job cuts and that it was in discussions with employees’ representatives.