SAS chief puts emphasis on local markets

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**DFNI eXTRA NEWS FLASH** "I believe very strongly that business is done locally, so the decisions and the relationships and the development of the business and contracts that we have, and the coming contracts, has to be done locally."

That's how SAS Trading president Patric Sjoberg sums up the new organisational structure at SAS Trading, which, with the loss of director international business development Robert Hernadi, will see regional managers gain more management power. Sjoberg will lead the regional managers in developing SAS Trading's retail business in markets including Norway, Russia and Poland. 

Sjoberg said the company will be focusing on duty-paid as well as tax-free within its retail business. "I think duty-paid is a good future for the travel-retail business, once we know what will happen in the future with alcohol and tobacco and the EU," he commented. "I think fragrances and duty-paid retail will always be at the airport, and because of this we will increase our retail business in the duty paid area."

Sjoberg remains bullish as to the future of SAS Trading, despite the hurdles it faced since the loss of its Swedish business to The Nuance Group last year (TRW 05/11/01). "I believe in the future and that we're here to stay," he concluded.

• For more comment and details on SAS Trading's restructure - exclusively revealed by DFNI News Flash this week - see the December 1 issue of Duty-Free News International.