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Hi-fi Analysis Update<br />
<strong>‘Never</strong> <strong>have</strong><br />
I <strong>seen</strong> <strong>more</strong><br />
<strong>opportunities</strong><br />
<strong>for</strong> <strong>our</strong> <strong>global</strong><br />
<strong>business…’</strong><br />
Whirlpool chairman and chief executive Jeff<br />
Fettig talks to Simon King about his vision<br />
<strong>for</strong> the future following the acquisition of the<br />
Indesit Company last year<br />
EXCLUSIVE<br />
Jeff Fettig<br />
Jeff Fettig has a very clear vision <strong>for</strong> the<br />
Whirlpool Corporation – to be “the best<br />
<strong>global</strong>, branded consumer products<br />
company in the world”.<br />
As chairman and chief executive, he was pivotal in<br />
the talks leading to Whirlpool Corporation’s $1 billion<br />
acquisition of the Indesit Company at the end of last<br />
year. An acquisition that marked the exit of Indesit’s<br />
founding Merloni family – one of Italy’s most prominent<br />
industrial dynasties.<br />
Mr Fettig was speaking exclusively to ERT Ireland<br />
in his 42nd floor penthouse suite at the Hotel Arts<br />
in Barcelona, Spain, where last month Whirlpool<br />
brought together its regional executives from Europe,<br />
Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and 300 key European<br />
trade customers in Barcelona, Spain, <strong>for</strong> its Leading<br />
Change event.<br />
This was the first opportunity <strong>for</strong> the company’s newly<br />
announced leadership organisation, which includes<br />
Fergus Johnston, Whirlpool Ireland’s managing director,<br />
who will lead the integration of the two Dublin-based<br />
businesses.<br />
In the case of the UK & Ireland, Mr Fettig said that<br />
integration would be completed within 2015, with the<br />
management team now in place.<br />
Mr Fettig said: “Business in the UK and Ireland has<br />
got off to yet another good start in the market – the<br />
UK and Ireland economies are probably <strong>more</strong> on the<br />
positive side of most.<br />
“Globally, we’ve just finished a record year. We now<br />
<strong>have</strong> a lot of work to do this year with the integration of<br />
two acquisitions.”<br />
In addition to the acquisition of Indesit Company,<br />
Whirlpool Corporation also acquired a majority stake in<br />
the Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Company, a leading<br />
home appliances manufacturer based in Hefei, China.<br />
Mr Fettig continued: “From a market standpoint,<br />
probably the two best economies we see in the world<br />
today are the United States and India. Europe is<br />
progressing and we are seeing some market growth,<br />
which is good. The UK, France and Russia are the top<br />
markets <strong>for</strong> us in the EMEA.<br />
“We expect to <strong>have</strong> another record year this year, but<br />
there is a lot of volatility, which is currently challenging<br />
any <strong>global</strong> company – we’re no exception. The euro a<br />
year ago was $1.40 to a $1; yesterday it was $1.07; the<br />
Russian ruble has halved – <strong>our</strong> small business in Ukraine<br />
devalued by 70 per cent in one day; and <strong>our</strong> huge<br />
business in Brazil has been affected by the Brazilian real,<br />
which has devalued by <strong>more</strong> than 20 per cent this year.<br />
“This is a fact of life – we’ve been a <strong>global</strong> company<br />
<strong>for</strong> a long time, so we know how to manage through<br />
it, but it puts a lot of challenges on <strong>our</strong> business. But<br />
we’ll figure it out.”<br />
Excited<br />
Explaining further his vision <strong>for</strong> Whirlpool, Mr Fettig<br />
added: “We believe in building great brands. I’m very<br />
excited about the power of <strong>our</strong> brands. Hotpoint is an<br />
outstanding brand in the UK and several other markets.<br />
Whirlpool is a world leader in several markets and Indesit<br />
is a well-recognised value brand across Europe. And we<br />
are growing very rapidly <strong>our</strong> super-premium business<br />
with KitchenAid. The end result is that in markets like<br />
the UK and Ireland, we’re going to be able to offer a<br />
portfolio to serve the entire market rather than just a<br />
piece of the market.”<br />
“Over the last two days, it’s the first time we’ve had<br />
all the management teams all together. It’s been a pretty<br />
exciting week <strong>for</strong> us – this is it,” he said.<br />
“I’ve been with the Whirlpool Corporation <strong>for</strong> 34<br />
years; never in my career <strong>have</strong> I <strong>seen</strong> <strong>more</strong> <strong>opportunities</strong><br />
<strong>for</strong> <strong>our</strong> <strong>global</strong> business than I see today. So from that<br />
standpoint, absolutely, this is the best time ever. I was<br />
quite supportive of us making a very major investment in<br />
Europe in buying Indesit – it’s something we had talked<br />
about and thought about <strong>for</strong> well over a decade, so<br />
when the opportunity came up, we were very keen to<br />
Hotel Arts, Barcelona<br />
6 · April 2015<br />
www.ERTIreland.ie · ERT<br />
006-007_Analysis_ERTIr_April15.indd 6 30/03/2015 15:00