Our business principles

• We are the leading specialist for small-shop retailing at high-frequency locations
• As an independent press product and book wholesaler, we are fully aware of the position we hold in media policy terms and of our resulting responsibilities.
• We are a high-performance marketing and distribution partner for fast-moving consumer goods in selected European markets.

 

Our strategy

Our entrepreneurial action is always taken with an eye to the future.

Valora wants to ensure the long-term existence of the business in a sustainable manner. This is pursued by quantitative and qualitative growth until reaching the leading position in niche markets.

Valora has a distinctive know-how to ensure that products and services in the required quality and quantity are always available at the right time in the right place. The prerequisite for entrepreneurial success are high marketing, procurement and distribution skills in the area of fast-turnover products and services. Our customers expect reliable and faultless service, especially when it comes to supplies of press and food products.

Valora - beyond performing the daily market transactions for millions of consumers in heavily-frequented locations - fosters the development of regular and intense relationships among all of the involved market participants.

 

Our values

Proximity         Movement       Cosmopolitanism       Networking     Cordiality

Valora combines all corporate activities by means of a common value concept. The values to which Valora commits globally embody the Valora brand promise. They lend the Valora umbrella brand an independent profile and an emotional aura.

These values guide and steer the way we think and act within the Group. They shape the way the markets and the broader public perceive the Valora brand name and the company itself.

 

Our History

The early days

The Valora Group story began back in 1905 when Merkur AG, its spiritual parent, was founded as the ‹Schweizer Chocoladen&Colonialhaus› in Olten by a group of innovative businessmen. The new company, which operated food stores with an emphasis on chocolate and coffee products, enjoyed rapid growth: it had over 80 sales outlets by 1910; and by 1934, that total had risen to 130.

Diversification

The face of the Valora Group has been transformed over the years through the acquisition of numerous companies in and outside Switzerland. New activities such as restaurants and vending machines came to supplement the Group’s traditional coffee, confectionery and restaurant businesses. In 1986, all the various companies within the group were brought together under a single holding company, Merkur Holding AG. Ten years later, it was renamed Valora Holding AG.

Entering the kiosk business

The Valora Group took a major strategic step in Switzerland in 1990 when it entered the small-retail-outlet sector, acquiring the Schmidt-Agence and Kiosk AG companies together with over 1 500 retail outlets. Valora extended its kiosk operations to Germany in 1997. Further expansion followed – first to Luxembourg and, in 2004, to Austria. The Group’s Valora Retail division currently sells print and tobacco products, snacks and other food and drink items at 1 464 retail outlets in these countries. On top of this, Valora Press&Books acts as a wholesaler, supplying around 17 000 private kiosks, food stores and filling station shops with press products every day.

 

Trading and distributing fast-moving consumer goods

With ten trading organisations in eight countries and a particularly strong presence in Scandinavia and Central Europe, Valora Trade is one of Europe’s leading distributors of branded fast-moving consumer goods today. Valora Trade has also earned itself a top reputation as a manufacturer of biscuits, snacks and other bakery items that include the internationally-renowned brands of Kägi, Roland, Gille and Sørlandschips. The production of these quality branded products supplements the division’s trading and distribution activities.

 

A focus on core businesses

Following the ‹focus strategy› adopted in 2003, Valora has gradually disposed of business segments that are no longer part of the Group’s core competencies. This has also led to the disposal of the traditional coffee and speciality confectionery businesses. Valora today is active in three business segments: small-outlet retail, press and book wholesale as well as the production and the distribution of fast-moving consumer goods.

 

Valora in figures

The Valora Group generated consolidated net revenues of CHF 2 846 million in 2005 and employed 7 454 personnel (in full-time-equivalent terms without Imaging) at the end of the year. The Group operates 1 464 of its own retail outlets in three European countries and serves some 60 000 European wholesale customers in 10 countries.