SWITZERLAND. Dufry this morning announced sweeping changes to its organisation to adapt to what it dubbed “the new business environment”. The world’s leading travel retailer said the changes would accelerate growth and support profitability during the recovery phase of the COVID-19-related economic crisis and beyond.
The new organisational structure, effective from 1 September, 2020, aims to strengthen the airport travel retail business and other channels, thus driving profitability and preparing growth acceleration.
Here is a summary of the main changes:
• Integration of headquarters and divisions as well as grouping countries into a reduced number of seven clusters plus North America as compared to the current 23 clusters;
• Simplifying the first management level by grouping related functions;
• Introducing a new, reduced Global Executive Committee to reflect organisational changes.
Dufry CEO Julián Díaz commented: “Dufry’s new simplified organisation will allow us to adapt the company to the new business environment, by adding flexibility, agility and by accelerating the decision-making process. The new organisation reduces costs by defining new responsibilities and directly managing operations from the headquarters.
“Combined with the successful strengthening of the financial structure achieved in April as well as the tight cost control and cash management initiatives implemented, Dufry is well prepared for the recovery phase of the tourism and travel industry.”
[We will bring you comment and analysis later in the day, including an interview with Julián Díaz]
Integration of headquarters and divisions
The integration of headquarters and divisions will simplify the current divisional layer by directly connecting headquarters to the country clusters, Dufry said. This integration will result in all clusters reporting to Eugenio Andrades as new CEO Operations, with the exception of the current division North America, which will continue to report to North America CEO Roger Fordyce. As mentioned, the countries will be grouped into seven clusters plus North America, allowing smaller countries to be served from local shared service centres.
Simplification of first management level
The further simplification of the first management level focuses on three main areas. 1) Consolidation of all finance-related functions, including controlling, accounting, treasury and financial shared services, under the responsibility of CFO Yves Gerster.
2) Integration of all commercial activities, such as shop design, trade and digital marketing, category management and supply chain, fall within the scope of Chief Commercial Officer Andrea Belardini.
3) The consolidation of all corporate functions including HR, IT, strategy and M&A as well as control business development come within the responsibility of the Chief Corporate Officer Luis Marin, to develop further synergies.
Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer José Antonio Gea will report to the Group CEO and be responsible for the company restructuring and special projects.
New composition of Global Executive Committee
With the implementation of the new organisation from 1 September, Dufry’s Global Executive Committee will comprise eight members (previously ten):
• Julián Díaz, Group Chief Executive Officer
• José Antonio Gea, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer
• Yves Gerster, Chief Financial Officer
• Eugenio Andrades, Chief Executive Officer Operations
• Roger Fordyce Chief Executive Officer North America
• Andrea Belardini, Chief Commercial Officer
• Luis Marin, Chief Corporate Officer
• Pascal Duclos, Group General Counsel
The previous members of the Global Executive Committee, Rene Riedi, Chief Executive Officer Central and South America, and Javier Gonzalez, Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, will continue to support the company with their wealth of experience, Dufry said.
