Lithuanian surimi producer Viciunai Group has followed its acquisition of the French food distributor Creative Seafood France earlier this month by setting up a new company in the United Kingdom.
Viciunai said the United Kingdom represented the last major European market to not have a representative office. Following the move, the group is now operating 20 distribution companies in as many countries.
"After acquiring Creative Seafood France and setting up Viciunai U.K. and Ireland, we have implemented a long-term strategic goal – currently group sales and distribution companies are already operating on all major western European markets: Germany, U.K., France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. This allows [us] to grow fully in neighboring Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, and the Netherlands," Viciunai CEO Šarūnas Matijošaitis said. "Working in[side] the country, [we are able to adapt] much faster [to] market trends, we are more flexible with trading partners, we know the end-user better, so we can offer the product tailor-made to it."
Matijošaitis said that it was now important to properly integrate the new enterprises into the broader Viciunai group structure and to create a sustainable relationship between group leaders, production facilities, and French and British professionals on the ground.
"Practice shows that it may take up to a year, and then we hope to see our true potential in the west," he said.
Since 2012, Viciunai’s U.K. sales have been handled by its Belgian business, with revenues almost doubling in 2017 to EUR 16.5 million (USD 20.6 million) and products sold in retailers such as as Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Dunnes, and Waitrose.
According to Egidijus Remeikis, head of sales and distribution company Viciunai and Ko, once sales reach such a level, further development of the market requires a sales company with local professionals.
Operating out of Cumbria, Mariport, on the U.K. west coast, the Viciunai UK and Ireland team is led by managing director Paul Agnew.
