The wholesale business of Emperia Holding S.A. under a single brand.
The wholesale business of Emperia Holding S.A. under a single brand. By July next year the wholesale subsidiaries of one of the largest Polish retail/wholesale groups will have changed their name to Tradis and operated as a single business. This marks the last stage of the Holding’s long-announced wholesale business streamlining process.
The first subsidiary of Emperia to be renamed to Tradis was Eldorado. The District Court in Lublin has already registered the change of business name. At the same time, further subsidiaries are getting ready for the integration. In effect, as of 1 July 2009, the part of the Emperia Holding S.A. distribution business slated for consolidation, will operate as a single company, under the same business name and NIP tax number. Mr Jarosław Wawerski, co-founder and vice-chairman of Emperia Holding S.A., was appointed Chairman of Tradis.
The new name—Tradis—is based on direct associations with what the wholesale (distribution) business is all about. The first part of the brand name comes from the word trade and the other from the word distribution.
“The new name marks the start of the last stage in the Emperia Holding S.A. wholesale business rationalisation process. The ultimate goal is for our wholesale subsidiaries to operate as a single business entity, as part of six geographical regions. The changes, while greatly simplifying our internal organisational structure, will above all bring benefits to out clients. For them Tradis means access to a wide range of FMCG products, high logistic standards, attractive terms of business, and a single partner to do business with throughout Poland,” says Jarosław Wawerski, Vice-Chairman, Emperia Holding S.A. Management Board.
In selected local markets, Emperia Holding S.A. decided to retain the current corporate scheme for some of the existing brands. However, in the official documents of the new company, only the new business name and NIP tax number will be used. The integration process, to span the next dozen or so months, will not affect the day-to-day operations of the subsidiaries involved.
The wholesale business of Emperia Holding S.A. comprises nine subsidiaries which operate 68 distribution warehouses throughout Poland.
Jarosław Wawerski (45) is a co-founder of Emperia Holding S.A. As the Vice-Chairman of the company he also served as the Wholesale Business Director. He is a graduate of the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the Lublin Technical School. He has been with Emperia Holding S.A. since 1990.
Company Background Information:
Emperia Holding is ranked seventh among the largest trading businesses in Poland, 37th on the Rzeczpospolita daily 500 List and 30th on Polityka’s Five Hundred list for 2007. Newsweek weekly and A.T. Karney list Emperia among the 100 most valuable Polish companies. The company has also been placed 15th on the Rzeczpospolita Europe 500 List of the largest trading companies in Central and Eastern Europe.
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 Holding acquired Sklepy Polka (74 outlets in the Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie Regions). In December, Retail Services Poland (27 retail franchises) was taken over. In February 2008 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 Emperia Holding.
The operations of Emperia Holding S.A. 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: Eldorado, BOS, DLS, Sygel-Jool, DEF, Express Podlaski, Sydo, Alpaga-Xema, and an importing and exporting arm, Arsenal). Both business segments of Emperia boast a workforce of close to 11,000.