Valora readies itself for future improvement

Valora is already positioned as a focused convenience and food-service provider with its small retail units at highly frequented sites, strong sales formats and own private labels, increased digital services and an integrated value chain in the production of baked goods. This allows Valora to take advantage of the latest trends in new technologies, increased mobility and out-of-home consumption. The growth and internationalisation of the Valora Group in recent years has brought about a stronger focus on customers and markets. In this way, Valora wants to support fast decisions close to markets and customers, easily integrate new business areas, additional concepts as well as acquisitions and to cluster Group-wide competencies on a consistent basis.

The Valora Group will therefore restructure effective 1 January 2019. The new organisation consists of the two market- and customer-oriented Retail and Food Service divisions, which are aligned with the decentralised sales formats and Group-wide Shared Services.

Roger Vogt to become a member of the Group Executive Management and CEO of the new Retail division
The new Retail division comprises the entire retail business of Valora in Switzerland plus the Hamburg- based retail business conducted in Germany, Luxembourg and Austria which is managed by Peter Obeldobel. Roger Vogt will head up the division as CEO Retail and newly join the Group Executive Management. He will continue to lead the Retail Switzerland business unit which he has been responsible for since January 2018.

Seb Gooding newly responsible as Managing Director for Ditsch B2B / Production in realigned Food Service division
Thomas Eisele, already CEO Food Service and a member of the Group Executive Management, will lead the Food Service division. The division will consist of the Food Service Switzerland business unit which has been managed since 2017 by Michel Gruber. In the newly created Food Service Germany business unit, the Ditsch retail (B2C) format and the BackWerk retail format including its sales channels in the Netherlands and Austria will be incorporated. This business unit will be managed by current BackWerk CEO Karl Brauckmann from Essen, Germany. The division's third business unit will consist of the international wholesale business for baked goods of Ditsch pretzel bakery including the production sites in Germany and the US. Effective 14 January 2019, Seb Gooding, who was CEO Central & Eastern Europe at Aryzta from 2015 to 2018, will be in charge of this business unit which will continue to be managed from Mainz, Germany. Seb Gooding, Karl Brauckmann and Michel Gruber will join the extended Group Executive Management of the Valora Group.

Central Shared Services - Digital now managed directly by the CEO
Shared Services, managed by Group CEO Michael Mueller and CFO Tobias Knechtle, will be coordinated centrally and support the divisions with Group-wide services. Digital will report directly to Michael Mueller as part of Shared Services and will focus on digital innovation and data analytics throughout the Group. Valora aims to position the new structure to focus the potential of the latest technology increasingly towards achieving an inspirational customer experience and streamlined processes.

The reorganisation also supports the realisation of the expected synergies from the BackWerk acquisition. The above measures will lead to the reduction of at least 30 job positions across the Group by the end of 2019.

Michael Mueller, CEO of Valora Group, is convinced: "The new organisation will make us more efficient so that we can implement our strategy successfully over the upcoming years. It will allow us to create a sound foundation to seize the many opportunities available in our rapidly changing environment and capitalise on them for the benefit of Valora and our customers."


Contact:
Christina Wahlstrand
Tel: +41 61 467 24 53
media@valora.com

» Valora Holding AG