APG|SGA preparing for the future

2. Appointment of Andy Bürki (*1974):

Andy Bürki worked at Tamedia AG for twelve years, where he held a variety of positions including project manager for sales promotion. He also spent eight years as head of the Advertising Market area at the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. He gained Out of Home advertising experience in Key Account Management at Clear Channel Plakanda GmbH between 2002 and 2006. For the last three-and-a-half years he was a member of the managing board of NZZ Media Solutions AG where he was responsible for the advertising market for NZZ products. Andy Bürki is a certified marketing planner and Swiss certified communication manager. He also completed an Executive Master of Business Administration in General Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (HWZ) in 2013.

3. Organization of the Executive Board  from 1 June 2019:

As part of its market strategy, APG|SGA is making a long-term investment in its performance capability. Its goal is to safeguard its position as market leader in the analogue and digital Out of Home media market for the long term in a rapidly changing environment. To this end, APG|SGA will focus on a one-brand strategy and optimize the company structures. The employees and activities of the APG|SGA segment brands will be integrated into the core business as of 1 June 2019 to enable comprehensive one-stop services to be offered to all market partners. At the same time, various organizational and personnel measures will be adopted with the aim of setting new market standards in the areas of digitalization and data. Daniel Strobel, currently a member of the Executive Board and head of the Advertising Market unit, will take on overall responsibility for the comprehensive digitalization and innovative development of the advertising offering at Swiss railway stations and thus also the management of the SBB unit (APG|SGA Rail) from 1 April 2019. He will focus fully on this strategic task and step down from the Executive Board. He will be replaced as head of the Advertising Market unit and Executive Board member by Andy Bürki, who will join APG|SGA on 
1 April 2019. 

The new structures will prioritize rapid decision-making channels as well as customer centricity and proximity at 17 sites as before, and will include the creation of a new Marketing & Innovation unit. This unit will drive the digital transformation process and act as a hub within APG|SGA that will be responsible for product range development, media research and product management, set up e-commerce and programmatic platforms, as well as systematically pursue innovations and new business. This unit will also drive mobile advertising. Beat Holenstein, who is currently responsible for the Partner & Product Management unit, will head up the Marketing & Innovation unit from 1 June 2019.
Christian Gotter, who was previously a member of the Executive Board and head of Logistics, is now responsible for the expanded Partner & Operations unit. In the future, this will include integrated support for the partner market (cities, public transport companies, airports, mountain destinations, shopping centres, private landowners, etc.) as well as all areas of logistics and operations. Beat Hermann, CFO of the Group, will continue to head up the Finance unit, which covers IT, infrastructure, holdings, international business, and now data analytics. The Human Resources unit managed by Marcel Seiler will no longer be represented on the Executive Board, but will gain new staff and report directly to the CEO from 1 June 2019.

In connection with this upcoming restructuring and increasing digitalization, the near future will see APG|SGA investing considerable resources and funds in the expansion and development of innovations, technology, data collection and analytics, as well as in the related specialists and talents. Plans include the immediate creation of ten new positions in various units which will be advertised within and outside the company. The changes to the business processes and the ongoing digitalization, in particular, will result in a further reorganization of tasks in the medium term. A consistent exploitation of synergies, standardized processes and other optimizations should result in the reduction of some 20 to 25 jobs in the back-office, administration and logistics areas by mid-2020. This reduction will be covered by natural fluctuations in staff. APG|SGA currently has over 500 employees in Switzerland. 

The project tasks which have been ongoing over the past months will be continued at an intensive rate to ensure that the planned changes to the structures, processes and product range can be introduced on 1 June 2019 along with the one-brand strategy. The employees and market partners will be kept up to date at all times. The Executive Board and Board of Directors are convinced that these extensive measures will help to extend APG|SGA's leading position in the analogue and digital Out of Home market and significantly strengthen its core competencies in the innovation, digital and data areas.

Contact
APG|SGA Media Office
Giesshübelstrasse 4, 8027 Zurich, T +41 58 220 70 71, media@apgsga.ch
 

Additional information:

1. Daniel Strobel's new position as head of the SBB unit: 
As mentioned in the letter to shareholders on 27 February 2019, we expect the next 2–3 years to be characterized by investments and the expansion of our core competencies in connection with the ongoing digitalization of our service portfolio, which will enable attractive opportunities for APG|SGA. One of the key projects will be the implementation of the new long-term, exclusive marketing contract with SBB from 2019 for the advertising spaces at all Swiss railway stations and on the rolling stock. Considerable sums will be required to set up an innovative and primarily digital advertising media offering that will be unique in Switzerland. We are therefore very pleased that Daniel Strobel, who boasts years of experience and outstanding knowledge of the advertising and partner markets, is to take on this strategic task together with the SBB team at APG|SGA. He will step down from the Executive Board in order to concentrate fully on this demanding role. Chris Mühlemann, who has successfully developed APG|SGA Rail over the past years and who, along with his team, laid the foundations for the contract with SBB, will leave the company in June 2019 for personal reasons.