Steve Jordan talks to Annika Roupé at Alfa in Sweden about the recent sale and how it will affect the company.
In last month’s Mover, we included a press release from Alfa Mobility in Sweden explaining that the owner, MIDAQ AB, had sold the company to PAMICA Group. I was intrigued to know more about the sale, the reasons for it and the likely effect the change in ownership would have on the company long term. To find out more, I spoke to CEO Annika Roupé.
Annika explained that one of the reasons she had joined Alfa at the beginning of 2021 was because she liked the owners. Over the last two years she has worked with them, and all her team at Alfa, to transform the business, building it from a turnover of around SEK400m to SEK660m (£30m to £50m). The company also doubled its profit. “It was a team effort,” she said. “I think we did it by empowering people to follow their instincts rather than controlling and by trying to foster a culture in which people are not afraid of saying they made a mistake.”
But, although there have been undoubted successes, and despite her fondness for the previous owners, Annika recognises that, to continue the development of the business, the new owners have a lot to offer. PAMICA Group (no connection with a technology company in China or any other organisation with a similar name) is much more used to growing businesses, to being proactive and in investing for the future. “The chairman of the Board is one of the most experienced business leaders in Sweden and the Board is super experienced in different fields. I hope that this owner will be forward-looking and provide the investment to allow us to expand. I already see it.”
Annika said she wanted to move the business to ‘the next level’. That is a much-used expression that, so often, cannot be quantified. But Annika is clear what it means to her. “We want to get up to SEK1billion (£75m) in turnover, but to get there risks putting us into a death spiral.” That sounded scary, so I asked for an explanation ...
Photo: Annika Roupé.