The Emperia Trading Group, the FMCG market giant, has launched a new wholesale branch, this time in Piła.
The branch was set up following incorporation by Emperia of Mago which had been part of the MPT wholesale group.
“The operational preliminaries and paperwork were completed in July. While the Piła branch is still operating under the DLS business name, ultimately it will operate as part of Tradis. The consolidation process of Emperia’s wholesale subsidiaries into a single company styled as Tradis is under way,” says Jarosław Wawerski, Chairman of Management Board, Tradis.
Mago used to be part of the MPT distribution group established in 1997 by collaborating food product wholesalers in Western Poland. “We like the strategy adopted by Emperia, its efforts aimed at the consolidation of Polish retail/wholesale segment are unrivalled. To be competitive, a retail/wholesale business requires a large enough scale of operations. By joining Emperia we will be able to develop our business further and our customers will benefit,” says Maciej Ozgowicz, Chairman of Management Board, Mago.
In 2007, the Piła-based company reported sales of some PLN 40 million. Emperia has budgeted major investment outlays for the expansion and upgrade of the Piła facility. Completion of the works is scheduled for November 2008. The objective is to set up a modern distribution warehouse some 3,000 sq. m in area.
Talks are also under way with other subsidiaries of the MPT group. “It may well be that still in this year the Emperia’s wholesale business will be joined by further companies,” says the Wholesale Business Development Director, Member of Management Board of Tradis, Jarosław Rudnicki.
Company Background Information:
Emperia Holding has been consistently pursuing the consolidation of the retail and wholesale FMCG market in Poland. Following the 2006 takeover of the BOS Group (56 branches and 81 outlets in Eastern and North-Western Poland), in July 2007 it incorporated Społem Tychy (36 retail outlets in the Śląskie Region), and in September the Centrum subsidiaries (13 retail outlets in the Warmińsko-Mazuskie Region of Poland) and Maro-Markety (18 retail outlets located in the Wielkopolskie and Opolskie Regions of Poland).
In June 2007, the decision was made to acquire 100 percent of the wholesale subsidiaries of Sydo in Wrocław and Alpaga Xema in Poznań. October saw the incorporation of Euro Sklep S.A. (265 retail franchises and proprietary outlets operating in the Śląskie, Opolskie, Dolnośląskie, and Małopolskie Regions of Poland), and in November Emperia acquired Sklepy Polka (74 outlets in the Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie Regions). In December, Retail Services Poland (27 retail franchises) was taken over.
The acquisitions continued in 2008. In February the Holding incorporated Lewiatan Dolny Śląsk and Lewiatan Zachód, and Lewiatan Orbita in April. Emperia also concluded the Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Lewiatan Holding, opening the door to a full equity integration with Lewiatan. The company has set its sights on further acquisitions, and talks are well under way with partners seeking to join the Emperia Trading Group.
Emperia Holding S.A. has been in the Polish market for 18 years now. Its operations fall into two major business segments: retail (among others Stokrotka and Stokrotka Premium, Groszek, Milea, Lewiatan Podlasie, Zachód, Dolny Śląsk, and Orbita, Społem Tychy, Jaskółka, Centrum, Euro Sklepy) and wholesale (9 subsidiaries: Tradis, BOS, DLS, Sygel-Jool, DEF, Express Podlaski, Sydo, Alpaga-Xema, and an importing and exporting arm, Arsenal). In April, the process of integrating selected wholesale companies into a single business under the business name of Tradis kicked off. Both business segments of Emperia boast a workforce of close to 11,000.