The Team is Key

I’ m very happy to be able to talk to you today for the first time as the new CEO of Dufry and am looking forward to working with all of you. I’ m honored by the responsibility given to me by our Board of Directors to head up the industry leader of travel retail, but it is equally important to me to thank all of you personally for the sacrifices you have made over the past two years. I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for your dedication and motivation under the extremely difficult conditions you have been facing. Let us now seize the opportunities presented by the ongoing recovery of our industry, by following a common purpose and jointly developing targets and initiatives.

Reconnecting with the teams and the company

As you know, I had worked in Dufry previously for eleven years from 2004 to 2015, first as Chief Financial Officer until 2012, and then as Chief Operating Officer EMEA & Asia until 2015. Whilst I assumed the CEO responsibility as of June 1, I actually joined the company in March and focused on reconnecting with the management teams in the clusters and studying the reality of the company and its business environment today. I took a deep-dive through the company processes, analyzed the operational and financial performance and learned about the current ways of working.

Most importantly, I met many people across the whole organization and personally visited all the clusters – with the exception of Asia-Pacific, which unfortunately could only be done virtually – and focused on gathering inputs from the local teams. A few weeks ago, we also held a virtual Townhall meeting with a large representation of the company, where together with the members of the Group Executive Committee (GEC), I had the opportunity to receive and answer your questions. Communication with teams in all directions – top down and bottom up – and across all segments is of key importance for me and the GEC, and we will certainly keep up with this direct interaction.

Similarly, I met with the key external business partners such as landlords, brands and the financial community, to learn how Dufry is seen from an external perspective and where we have opportunities to further improve the service to our customers.

Strategic review started and ongoing

The learnings of all these meetings provided a good base to start the strategic review and the adaptation of the company plan to today’s reality and to prepare the company for future opportunities. We have set up this process with a collaborative approach to be able to include the knowhow and experience of our local teams, but also considering the inputs from landlords, suppliers, industry specialists and advisors – and above all, our customers. In detail, we have spoken to over 60 key people within the company, we have actioned a company-wide employee survey to receive your direct ideas and feedback, we have spoken to airport development experts and we have gathered inputs on consumer trends and expectations.

With this review, which is based on data-driven market analysis, we are looking at how to strengthen our core business and also where we can identify growth opportunities in adjacent channels, which make sense strategically.

First impressions

As a first impression, I am positively surprised by the spirit and the high level of commitment for close collaboration across the whole team. Our traditionally strong relationships with suppliers, landlords and other business partners have been confirmed and provide an excellent base to further evolve the company. Altogether, this underpins again the importance of working as a motivated team and developing initiatives collaboratively, with a high level of focus and dedication.

I think it is important to confirm that we have clear strengths on which we can build on and we will of course maintain what is working well. Building on this foundation, we will then also make the necessary adaptations and changes where necessary and where we jointly identify opportunities to improve.

Next steps

The strategic review process is still ongoing and we will present the findings and proposals to the board of directors early August. Following their feedback, we will personally share the new company plan with you and finally present it to the financial community and our shareholders in early September.

In this edition of Dufry World, you will find amongst other stories some very interesting articles and interviews on topics which will be of growing importance going forward. Thomas McCrave provides valuable insights on the Shop Design team and their close collaboration with internal departments and external specialists to create memorable shopping experiences for our customers. Sarah Branquinho provides a deep-dive into Diversity & Inclusion, which will be a topic of growing importance, allowing us to reflect the diversity of our customers within our organization and contribute to a better understanding their expectations.

I am looking forward to talking to you soon, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing strong engagement and motivation for our company. Let’s work closely together as a strong team to reach our goals, but also to have fun and enjoy what we do!

Sincerely,

Xavier Rossinyol
CEO Dufry