Speedo has completed the process of farming out the distribution in all the markets outside the UK. Following similar moves in France, Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Australia, where it previous controlled the distribution, it has appointed a strong wholesaler, Oberalp, as its exclusive distributor in Italy, effective with last Jan. 1. Within the company, which distributes many other important brands, Marco Bava will run a network of 14 agents to ensure maximum penetration.
Pentland Group made the move in Italy in spite of the fact that Speedo reached a recording turnover on the Italian peninsula last year, while still running behind Arena. Pentland was running the Italian Speedo business out of its down-sized Ellesse office in Perugia. Max Bagnolo, who was in charge of Speedo for the Italian market, will continue to oversee the whole Southern European market from there.
Bagnolo got this position twelve months ago. He takes care of all the countries on the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece, Turkey and the whole Iberian peninsula. He also supervises distributors in all the Balkan countries from Slovenia down along the Adriatic coast. Bulgaria and Romania are handled through the Speedo’s East European operation, partly because the sports culture is different there.
