BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Northern European bicycle manufacturer Baltik Vairas has reshuffled its management, adding a new Chief Sales Officer and Chief Innovation Officer.
Michael Thurau is the new Chief Sales Officer at the Baltik Vairas headquarters in Šiauliai, Lithuania. For the last two years he served as a Country Manager for Germany at EnergySport, a distributor of bike brands, such as Assos, Sidi, Kask, Rotor, SpeedPlay, 3T, Vredestein, Morgan Blue and High5.
Mr. Thurau has an extensive experience in B2B sales within FMCG sector. His 12 year experience within retail operations at executive level provides BV with a cutting edge in understanding customers and consumers. In his career, the new Chief Sales Officer led two successful turnarounds of retail chains as a CEO of Aldi and Coop Kvickly in Denmark. Mr. Thurau is expected to substantially increase value for the European customers and further drive the sales of Baltik Vairas.
Peter Brolos Kristensen also joins as the new Chief Innovation Officer. In the past, Mr. Brolos Kristensen served as a Country Manager at Bike & Co in Denmark and the CEO of bicycle manufacturer Mosquito Cykelcenter / Cykel-X-Perten. His 21 year experience in the industry from junior to executive positions provides Mr. Brolos Kristensen with a deep insight into cycling innovation and the latest trends. At Baltik Vairas’ Product Development and Product Design Departments will be reporting directly to him.
Sales of Baltik Vairas, who claim to be the largest bicycle manufacturer in Northern Europe, surged year-on-year in the three months ended 28 February from EUR 7.444 million to EUR 14.369 million.
EBITDA grew from EUR 0.088 million to EUR 0.848 million in the fiscal second quarter. The company manufactured and sold 78,000 bicycles and e-bikes in the quarter.
