Changes At Senator
May 24, 2013
Michael Nick, CEO Senator
Michael Nick moves from Management to the Supervisory Board of Senator / Course is set for further expansion of the business.
Groß-Bieberau, 23rd May. Changes are coming in the Board of Management of Senator, a subsidiary of the Merz Group. Michael Nick, Managing Director of the company since 2005, is moving to its Supervisory Board as Chairman. In addition to his role as shareholder and Joint Managing Director of Merz Holding, Michael Nick will therefore be actively supporting the further development of Senator.
Michael Nick’s move from the operative business to the Supervisory Board has been long planned, and the timing of the move carefully chosen: the strategic course for sustainable business expansion has been set in the Senator Group and is well underway. However, fourth-generation Merz shareholder Michael Nick will remain in the position until a new Managing Director is found for Senator.
Based in Groß-Bieberau near Darmstadt, the company will remain an integral part of the Merz Group in the future. With substantial investment in the production facility and further development of the market, the basis for future growth is being established. This will reinforce the company’s leading international position as a manufacturer of writing instruments and mugs in the promotional products and retail market.
As part of the generational changeover in the shareholding families of Merz, Nick will continue to represent the interests of Merz Group shareholders together with three other shareholders as Joint Managing Director of Merz Holding. He will be responsible for Senator here, ensuring continuity.
With his move to the Supervisory Board, Nick is taking account of the difficulty in balancing the time required for his duties as Managing Director of both the holding company and Senator. In addition, this implements a decision taken by the shareholders stipulating that shareholders should no longer be operationally involved in the company.
Nick, an economics graduate and MBA is a great-grandson of company founder Friedrich Merz. Michael Nick is directing the Senator business from 2007. Previously he was responsible for Marketing & Sales in Germany at Merz Pharma and prior to that he was working in business development at Merck Darmstadt.
About the Merz Group
Senator GmbH & Co. KGaA and Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA are brought together under the umbrella of the Merz Group (Merz GmbH & Co. KGaA), based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Merz Pharma bundles the activities of its three subsidiaries Merz Pharmaceuticals, Merz Consumer Care and Merz Dental. Merz Pharmaceuticals specialises in the development of drugs and medicinal products for neurology and in innovative solutions for medical and aesthetic dermatology. With the brands tetesept® and Merz Spezial®, Merz Consumer Care is a leading provider of products for selfmedication, nutritional supplements and skin care in the German-speaking markets. Merz Dental specialises in dental technology and dentistry products.
About SENATOR
SENATOR GmbH & Co. KGaA is one of the leading providers of individualised and personalised products on and around the desk. The assortment includes high quality writing instruments, drinking vessels as well as writing folders and accessories. Production and branding are concentrated at the headquarters in Groß-Bieberau. The company follows a strict environmental and quality management system according to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 and has been a member of the BSCI for many years. Products from the SENATOR brand are represented in about 100 countries through subsidiaries in England, France, Poland, Benelux, China and India, a representative office in Russia as well as through exclusive partnerships. The company, founded in 1920, belongs to the Merz Group with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.
Ceramic Anti-Dumping Duties Confirmed
May 23, 2013
EU imposes definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of ceramic table- and kitchenware from China
The European Union (EU) has published a Council Regulation imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware originating in China. The duties range from 13.1% to 23.4% for cooperating Chinese companies (around 400 companies) and 36.1% for non-cooperating companies. New exporters will be subject to a duty rate of 17.9%.
The move makes permanent the provisional imposition implemented on the 15th of November 2012 which caused shock waves and anger in the promotional products industry. We understand that a majority of Member States representing more than 70% of the EU population supported the imposition of these definitive measures and that the decision has been widely supported by European ceramics producers. There has however been a downgrading of some of the taxation levels.
EPPA, the European Promotional Product Association commented: As EPPA, we objected to this provisional anti-dumping duty as promotional ceramics would become almost twice as expensive as before. EPPA joined several hearings of the Trade Injury Team in Brussels, one of them involving all EPPA country-members, including the bpma. After being heard as an industry, the Commission imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware, excluding ceramic knives, ceramic condiment or spice mills and their ceramic grinding parts, ceramic peelers, ceramic knife sharpeners and cordierite ceramic pizza-stones. (Currently falling within CN codes ex 6911 10 00, ex 6912 00 10, ex 6912 00 30, ex 6912 00 50 and ex 6912 00 90 – TARIC codes 6911 10 00 90, 6912 00 10 11, 6912 00 10 91, 6912 00 30 10, 6912 00 50 10 and 6912 00 90 10 and originating in China).
EPPA is proud that the EU Commission heard all of our arguments and lowered the duty from 58.8% to 36.1%. For us, as an industry and as EPPA, this is big step forward in being recognised as a trade association.
The Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L 131 Volume 56 of 15 May). This also lists all co-operating Chinese manufacturers.
