B&S CEO Bert Meulman: Aims to build on the strengths of Capi-LuxNETHERLANDS. Trade and distribution organisation B&S International (B&S) formally completed the acquisition of airport electronics retailer Royal Capi-Lux on 9 August.
As reported, B&S announced its intention to acquire the electronics specialist at the end of June 2012. The acquisition brings an end to the business run by the Breuer family; Capi-Lux will continue to operate under the management of the current CEO Peter Wiggers and CFO Paul Degenhart as a separate division within the B&S group.
By combining the strengths of both organisations, B&S and Capi-Lux said they were confident they could continue to expand in the duty free industry.
With the transfer of shares completed, Peter Breuer symbolically handed Bert Meulman, CEO of B&S, a key to the Capi headquarters in Hoofddorp and an Ivens & Co print. The print is one of a series of art nouveau advertising posters made by the designer J.C. van Caspel around 1910 for C.A.P. Ivens, owner of a photographic retail business that was later renamed Capi.
Meulman said: “Capi has been performing excellently in a changing and challenging market of consumer electronics. Every detail in their shops is exclusively designed for travellers’ convenience.”
He said that B&S was enthusiastic about Capi’s retail concept and was looking forward to expanding its concept to other airports as well as other areas of duty free retailing.
B&S’s head office and logistics centre in the Netherlands (above and below)
Both companies have been recognised for their growth and innovation in recent years.
B&S won the Gazellen Award from Dutch newspaper Het Financiele Dagblad for the fastest growing Dutch enterprise; Capi won DFNI’s Best Marketing Concept award and has been nominated for the Frontier Awards at Cannes this year for best Speciality Concept. Capi Trading, the business-to-business division, has been nominated for the Best Supplier Award.
About B&S
B&S is an international trade and distribution organisation. The company supplies foods – including a complete range under its private label GoodBurry – liquor, excise goods, and luxury consumer goods such as fragrances to a variety of markets. The company operates worldwide as a “one-source-supplier” of complete and mixed shipments. As a duty free retailer, in the Netherlands it operates B&S Shop Fly at Eindhoven and Maastricht Airports and has shops overseas. B&S recorded 2011 turnover of €829 million and turnover is expected to exceed €1 billion in 2012.
About Capi
Capi – The Travellers Electronics Company – is part of Royal Capi-Lux, established in 1894. Royal Capi-Lux is one of the founders of the Amsterdam Airport Shopping Centre and has been active in airport retailing since 1957. Royal Capi-Lux was a family business run by the Breuer family from the 1920s until the takeover. Capi operates shops at airports throughout Europe and South Africa. It distributes electronics to business-to-business partners through Capi Trading. In 2011 Royal Capi-Lux had a total of €90 million in revenues and employed more than 230 people.
Capi has developed a strong position in the challenging consumer electronics market
