Fressnapf restructures management team

Dr Hans-Jörg Gidlewitz and Folkert Schultz have been appointed to the new board. Company proprietor Torsten Toeller remains chairman of the administrative board, but will be involved in managing the company for a transition period, working in particular in the merchandise field and distribution. Toeller maintains that his aim is to work more on the company than in it and to advance Fressnapf's strategic development together with the management board.

The Fressnapf boss spoke at some length about the reasons for the surprising departure of Alfred Glander. "Alfred Glander and I have parted amicably and with a high level of respect, gratitude and mutual appreciation," Toeller explained in response to a question from PET worldwide. "Glander made a significant contribution to determining our previous corporate strategy Challenge 2020 and implemented it superbly in practice, thereby taking the credit for an important share of the company's success to date. However, it is fundamental to the further development of the Fressnapf Group to design a strategy for the future that is more flexible and digital. Alfred Glander and I were of a completely different opinion in this respect and so we decided not to continue the journey together." 

Glander's departure from the company cannot have been due to the sales figures for 2017. The Fressnapf pet store chain ended its fiscal 2017 with record sales of 1.98 bn euros. Compared with the previous year, this equated to sales growth of six and a half per cent and like-for-like sales of three and a half per cent, although Fressnapf has not succeeded in achieving its self-declared aim of passing the two-billion-euro mark.
Germany continued to be the company's strongest sales market, with Fressnapf increasing its sales by six per cent (by around three and a half per cent for like-for-like sales) to 1.25 bn euros. In the other ten countries in which the group operates, annual sales grew by nearly eight per cent to 727 mio euros. The company did particularly well in Poland (+55.6 per cent), Italy (+16.9 per cent), France (+13.3 per cent) and Hungary (+13.2 per cent). Online sales in Germany grew by more than 22 per cent to 73 mio euros. 

With the international roll-out of online shops and over 150 new stores, the Fressnapf pet store chain has set itself elevated targets this year. The Fressnapf Group's online shop is to launch in Austria this spring, thus its first online…