Baltik Vairas, the largest bicycle manufacturer in Northern Europe, continues strengthening its customer focused management team with the appointments of a new Chief Sales Officer and a new Chief Innovation Officer. These latest appointments imply that Baltik Vairas filled another two key positions in the company with experienced professionals and by this formed a solid structure of its management team.

Michael Thurau is the new Chief Sales Officer at the Baltik Vairas headquarters in Šiauliai, Lithuania. For the last two years he served as a Country Manager for Germany at EnergySport, which is a distributor of biking brands, such as Assos, Sidi, Kask, Rotor, SpeedPlay, 3T, Vredestein, Morgan Blue and High5. Mr. Thurau has an extensive experience in B2B sales within FMCG sector. His 12 year experience within retail operations at executive level provides him with a cutting edge in understanding customers and consumers. In his career, the new Chief Sales Officer led two successful turnarounds of retail chains as a CEO of Aldi and Coop Kvickly in Denmark. Mr. Thurau is expected to substantially increase value for the European customers and further drive the sales of Baltik Vairas.

Peter Brolos Kristensen, another key member for the team, has been hired as the new Chief Innovation Officer. In the past, Mr. Brolos Kristensen served as a Country Manager at Bike & Co in Denmark and the CEO of bicycle manufacturer Mosquito Cykelcenter / Cykel-X-Perten. His 21 year experience in biking industry from junior to executive positions provides Mr. Brolos Kristensen with a deep insight into biking innovation and the latest biking trends. At Baltik Vairas, Product Development and Product Design Departments will be reporting directly to him.

“With the latest appointments, the backbone of Baltik Vairas management team has been formed. I am satisfied to see that we have been able to fill another two key positions with highly experienced professionals with strong track records in sales and innovation. From now on, our management team will be even more customer-focused and more customer-oriented. I believe the new Chief Sales Officer will bring his extensive experience and natural talent for sales, which is necessary to drive further revenues of Baltik Vairas, while the new Chief Innovation Officer will deliver up-to-date bikes and responsive solutions to the market, creating the best possible value and price for the customer,” CEO Peter Ferlev Jensby said.

Sales of Baltik Vairas, the largest bicycle manufacturer in Northern Europe, surged year-on-year in the three months ended 28 February from EUR 7.444 million to EUR 14.369 million. EBITDA grew from EUR 0.088 million to EUR 0.848 million in the fiscal second quarter. The company manufactured and sold 78,000 bicycles and e-bikes in the quarter.

Baltik Vairas UAB today is the largest bicycle and e-bike manufacturer in Northern Europe. Established in 1948 and based in Šiauliai, Lithuania, the company exports top-quality bicycles throughout Europe. Capacity to deliver up to 500,000 bicycles annually includes six production lines and 1700 different models. Bicycles are exported to 14 countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Finland. The company’s factory has 320 permanent employees, though total staff exceeds 600 during the peak season. For more information, please visit www.baltikvairas.com.

Peter Ferlev Jensby, CEO, email: jensby.p@baltikvairas.lt, +370 657 62777
Daiva Povilaitė, Strategic Project & Communications Manager, email: povilaite.d@baltikvairas.lt, +370 657 77962