Giorgos Saperas is introducing himself as the 35 year old single manager of Danone Springs, a bottled water company in Greece. In 2005, Danone Springs is forecast to have net sales of 2.5 million euros with 447,000 bottles sold but an operating loss of 0.4 million euros. It has 40 employees serving 8,700 clients across 11 routes in Athens and Thessaloniki. To improve profitability, Danone Springs aims to decrease losses to 0.4 million euros in 2005 and reach break-even in 2006 through cost-cutting projects like reducing refill costs and headcount as well as optimizing fleets and payroll schemes. A major challenge in the past year was changes in the
2. DANONE SPRINGS
Personal introduction
•Name:Giorgos Saperas
•Age:35
•Personal status:Single
•Education: MA in Bus.Admin.(major in
accounting). MBA in Finance. ACCA member
•Experience in the last 5 years: Strategic
Planning/M&As, Corporate Finance in S&B
(major industrial group of companies in Greece)
•Leisure activities: Football, motorcycle riding,
reading, travelling
Country:Greece
3. DANONE SPRINGS
Net Sales (Forecast 2005): 2,5 m. €
No of Bottles (Forecast 2005): 447.000
EBITA (Forecast 2005): 0,4m. € loss
Location of Branches: Athens & Sallonica
Total Employees: 40
No. of Clients: 8.700
No. of routes: 11
Country:Greece
Country/Company Introduction
4. DANONE SPRINGS
Profitability Improvement
Decrease serious losses from
1,1m at 2004 to 0,4m at 2005
Target of Break-even at 2006.
Implementation of cut-costing
projects i.e:
– Reduce unit-refill cost
– Reduce service headcount
– Fleet optimization
– Reviewing payroll schemes
– Moving HQ office to the
branch
Net Growth Champion
Focus on customer’s quality
Country:Greece
Major Challenges during last year
Changes in Management
MD, CFO, NSM left the company
during the last year
Short-term negative effects:
– Deterioration of personel’s
moral
– Sense of lack of leadership
– Disorganisation in certain
business procedures
Actions taken:
– Remaining management
cooperation and sharing of
duties
– Strong support from the HQ
– Improvement of team spirit
and support the feeling of
continuity
