New CEO Holger Ruban: “Let’s continue to drive forward the success story”.
It is a balance sheet to be proud of: Only 18 months after the takeover by AURELIUS, Distrelec Group is about to have the most successful financial year in the company’s history. For the current year, the retailer of electronic and technical components with headquarters in Manchester (UK) and Nänikon (CH) expects sales of more than EUR 200 million for the first time and is growing at a clear double-digit rate. “For the current financial year, we expect EBITDA of more than 10 percent for the first time, based on the growth and significant efficiency improvements along the initiated digitalisation,” AURELIUS operating partner Stephan Rahmede says.
He had led the company in a dual role as AURELIUS manager and CEO after the takeover in April 2020 and initiated a comprehensive digitisation and performance improvement programme under the maxim “Back to the digital Future”. As a result, despite a pandemic that prevented office operations at the headquarters for long stretches in the middle of the realignment, Distrelec was able to reposition itself with its approximately 500 employees and align it with the market, as well as significantly increase its earning power.
Holger Ruban new CEO since 1 October
With the arrival of Holger Ruban at Distrelec, who succeeded Stephan Rahmede as CEO on 1 October, Stephan Rahmede now joins the Distrelec Supervisory Board. ” In Holger we have succeeded in gaining an exceptional industry expert as CEO for this task, who will build on the AURELIUS foundation and take the Distrelec Group to the next level of development,” says Stephan Rahmede.
Ruban, 51, has more than 15 years of C-level experience as a managing director and advisory board member and has been involved in multi-channel B2B retail of electronic components for more than 20 years. As CEO of Conrad Electronic and previously managing director of Farnell, he has industry expertise that marks him as an all-round industry veteran. Most recently, Ruban served as managing director for Rademacher Geräte-Elektronik GmbH. In the industry, he is regarded as a specialist for sustainable corporate growth and increasing corporate value. At the Distrelec Group, he is thus expected to initiate the next phase of growth.
A task that Holger Ruban himself outlines with the words: “Continuing to drive the success story forward and opening up further areas of growth – these are the two objectives that are central to what will determine our work in the next stage of development. It will be about continuing to drive the themes of innovation and customer centricity as a team.”
