The Advent of a new era? - The Moodie Report

Julian Diaz
Julian Diaz has embarked on a
whirlwind tour of duty free to
get an insider’s view of the
diverse global company he
now heads. Talking to The
Moodie Report in early March, just
before he boards a plane to one of
Swiss travel retailer Dufry’s key locations
– Moscow Domodedovo Airport –
Diaz is keen to get to grips with the
organisation quickly.
“I am very busy as I have to get to
know things as soon as possible,” he
says. “One of my key concerns is to
understand the company and identify
the most urgent things to deal with.
Over the next few weeks I plan to be
travelling a lot.”
That’s going to mean a lot of air miles.
Dufry is arguably the world’s most geographically
diverse travel retailer, with
operations in Africa, Europe, Asia,
Eurasia, Latin America, the Caribbean
and the US. Was that diversity one of
the attractions to the new buyer? “It’s
impressive, but at the same time difficult,”
Diaz replies. “Today, five or six of
the operations contribute most of the
profit. We call them Management
Priority (MP) companies and we will
focus on these from the beginning.”
How does Diaz, a youthful veteran of
over ten years in the business, perceive
the opportunity, both for Dufry’s new
The Moodie Report PLUS
Julian Diaz
targets acquisitional and
organic growth at Dufry
Julian Diaz is one of duty free’s most experienced retail executives, and he sits in
one of the industry’s most powerful positions. The former Aldeasa and
Latinoamericana de Duty Free chief was named CEO of Swiss travel retailer Dufry
this month, following the latter’s acquisition by Advent International-headed
Sintres. Shortly afterwards he discussed his vision and strategy with Martin Moodie.
This is an edited version of an interview published in full in the forthcoming print
edition of The Moodie Report, out next week.
owners and for himself? “I’ve worked in
the past for Aldeasa and then as general
manager of Latinoamericana in
Mexico, and for me it’s a great personal
opportunity now to try to develop in
this company all the knowledge I have
acquired over the past ten years.”
While Mexico specifically and Latin
America in general are key commercial
backgrounds for Advent and its fellow
partners in Sintres, Áreas and Nivada
(earlier this month Areas
acquired Argentinean airport
authority AA2000's F&B
business), Diaz says he has
no regional priority.
“Latin America will not be
the only focus,” he says. “We
have the philosophy to make
Dufry the most important
travel retail company. We
have two opportunities. One
is organic growth, something
we mainly have to achieve in
Asia, Europe and Latin
America. The other possibility
is to acquire companies.
Any acquisition that is viable
will be studied.”
Despite the bullish statements
made by Advent's
Mexico City-based managing
director Juan Carlos Torres
recently about further duty
6
By Martin Moodie
free targets being in the pipeline, Diaz is
understandably reluctant to be drawn
on acquisitions. “I don’t want to confuse
anyone in this business. It’s not a matter
of arriving here and then saying I’m
also looking at other opportunities.
Personally my main concern is control
of this company [Dufry]. I cannot speak
for the shareholders.”
While declining to comment further
on Advent International’s acquisition