Provigo

Provigo , founded in 1969, is a Québécois company , specialized in the food products, which operates a store chain with the detail and warehouses of distribution, and whose head office is located at Montreal.

Description

The company operates stores known as corporative, i.e. held by the company, whereas franknesses operate stores for their account. These independent owners have recourse to the various services offered by the company, while benefitting from its publicity standardized on the whole of the served territory.

The principal ones marketed products are food: fruit and vegetables, meats, cheeses, dairy products, pastry makings, etc It known as is integrated in the sense that it buys, stores, distributes, and sells with the detail the products which it markets. Directly or by the means of Frankness S, it operates various types of trade under various banners:

Supermarket: Provigo , Maximum , Maximum & Co and lowblaws
Store on average surface: Alim More , Intermarket the and the Treasurer
Break-down mechanic: AXEP , Asset-Price and Landlord

Warehouse for stores: the Warehouses Presto

The whole of these trade employs approximately 30 000 people in 2002.

History

In 1969, in answer to the Canadian competition and étatsunienne, four Grossiste S Québécois decide to amalgamate their activities with an aim of benefitting from the economies of scale and of establishing services of management of great scale. One of those is carried out by Antoine Turmel, which will be the first chairman of Provigo.

After several years of growth, the most important institutional investor, CDPQ (one of the financial arm of the Government of Quebec), decides to take a participation of control in Provigo and to name Pierre Lortie at his head, while drawing aside Pierre Lessard, the supposed dolphin. This last becomes president of Aetna before becoming the president and director-general of Metro Inc., an important candidate of Provigo.

For various reasons, Provigo knows financial problems during the Années 1980, amongst other things because it is the subject of political aimings. For example, the CPDQ offers the control of the chain to Unigesco, a Holding carried out by Bertin Nadeau. This last tries to make of them the angular stone of its financial empire, but in vain.

Always during the same years, Provigo leads a wild commercial battle to the stores Steinberg' S to maintain its market share in Quebec. After having gained this war with the Pyrrhus, it tries to remake a financial health. The task falls about it on Pierre Migneau, which it does in an exemplary way.

The chain, become again financially healthy, is sold with Loblaw 'S in 1998, putting fine at several decades of Québécois control. Although it operates stores in Quebec, Loblaw' S maintains brand names of Provigo, inter alia for reasons of public image.

External bonds

Official site

Random links: