Diaz: Dufry will eye further acquisitions

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TRW talks to new Dufry ceo Julian Diaz about the future of the company under new stakeholders Advent International and Areas

After a two-year chase, Boston based venture capital group Advent International has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in leading duty-free operator Dufry. The new ceo at Dufry's Basle offices, Julian Diaz, is no stranger to the duty-free business?his most recent post was as managing director with Mexican retailer Operadora de Aeroboutiques, formerly owned by Advent but sold to Spanish multinational Areas in 2001. In the early ?90s Diaz was managing director at Spanish operator Aldeasa.

TRW talked to Julian Diaz as he paused between visits to Dufry's companies throughout the world, to find out more about the plans of the new owners.

Advent International and a group of investors have bought 75% of Dufry. Who are the other investors who have joined Advent in the project?

Julian Diaz: The other main investor is Areas, the current owner of Mexican duty-free retailer Aeroboutiques de Mexico. In addition, there are two private Mexican investors.

What role will Areas play in the new company?

Areas will bring with them a great amount of retail know-how and wide experience of dealing with the travelling public in a variety of different locations. Together we aim to grow the company and our aim is to go forward continually and to become the world leaders in the travel-retail and duty-free industries

Do you plan any changes in the immediate future?

Changes are inevitable when one company takes control of another. However there is nothing immediate and the clear thing is that Dufry has a lot of good people working in different parts of the company. Many of them have been in the duty-free business for many years and there is a lot of experience within the company. One of our main objectives is to combine their skills with ours and make an even better and bigger company

You have bought a company with a diversity of travel-retail interests throughout the world. Have you already created a strategy to concentrate on a particular business segment or one particular area, and do you have plans to divest a particular business segment or stop working in a specific region?

We have bought a majority share in Dufry to strengthen it, not to break it up. Our main objective is to be involved in retail wherever there are travellers present?this could mean airports, cruiseship piers, railway stations, hotels, onboard aeroplanes or downtown shops in the Caribbean and so on. At the moment we haven't ruled out any sector or geographical areas. Although we looked at Dufry in some depth before we made the purchase, we are now getting to the company from the inside and we will need a few months to assess things fully.

Have you drawn up a plan to increase sales and profits in the short term?

Over the next few months we will be looking at the main operating units very closely and drawing up a revised list of priorities to ensure that this year's objectives are met. We will be working very closely with our team of senior managers to make sure everyone knows what has to be done in each business segment and in each area.

How do you plan to operate purchasing? Will you aim to centralise or will you devolve power to the individual operating companies?

We will be looking at the global importance to our company of the major suppliers. The supplying companies who make a significant contribution to our margin and to our bottom line will be managed centrally. We will be explaining the whole process to the suppliers and to the operating units over the next few weeks.

Earlier you talked about the wish to be a leader in the duty-free and travel-retail business. Will you aim to grow Dufry organically or do you plan further to make acquisitions in the short term?

Following the change in ownership it is important for us to put our new business plan into place within a short period of time. Our immediate thoughts are to grow Dufry organically but our medium- to long-term objective is to become the industry leader. Therefore we will be actively looking for acquisition opportunities in the future.