(SGI) In the midst of reforms to turn around the business, Rapala VMC has appointed Nicolas Warchalowski as its new chief executive, effective March 1, 2020. He has had an extensive career in international consumer businesses, heading up companies such as BabyBjörn, Peak Performance and Haglöfs. Warchalowski is taking the place suddenly left vacant at the top of the Finnish-based distribution and fishing tackle company by the departure late last year of Jussi Ristimäki, who had worked for the company since 2007. Louis d’Alançon, chairman of the group, took on his responsibilities on an interim basis. The change of management comes after Rapala announced a group-wide plan to save €10 million in costs through efficiencies and internal synergies, lowering operating expenses and reducing net working capital. The main goal of the program is to centralize European distribution operations. The group raised €25 million at the end of 2019 through a bond, after its results deteriorated in the first half of last year due to lower sales of third-party products. However, revenues improved significantly in the second half, driven by good performance in North America. This led the company to post a 5 percent gain in revenues for 2019 to €275.4 million, with a 3 percent gain in constant currencies. On an organic basis, sales also grew by 3 percent from 2018. (More in SGI Europe)

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