To whom it may concern:

I worked with Javier during my assignment as VP Sales in the BU Spain & Portugal between 2011 and 2013.He was in charge with the Makro store in Castellon, an Eco store format strongly focused on HoReCa and Re-sellers.

During his period, Spain’s economy went into the spiral down-turn contracting strongly with a negative GDP development.

with high unemployment rate of alarming 26% and the consumer confidence index plunging abruptly.

In this situation the dining out habit start to decrease and also the evolution of modern trade channel vie hard discounters formats( Mercadona, Lidl, Aldi) become a main factor for closure of the traditional trade outlets in the country.

And those 2 categories were the focus customers for Castellon Makro.

In this respect Javier demonstrated high flexibility in adapting to the new reality, focusing on the most important few, big battles.

Supporting strongly the growing middle level HoReCa( this category became relevant for serving the lunch in the industrial and business areas).

Also the re-sellers specialized in specific categories( like meat, fish and Fruit & Vege) were the primary focus for Javier, i.e. focus on specialized retailers( perceived as fresh, local pride) rather than generalists.

By his approach he was able to catch he momentum and to grow he sales volumes and also with a slight increase of EBIT in a fierce competitive environment and declining economy.

That was possible due to Javier’s strong leadership skills, keeping his team motivated and focused into the same direction( celebrating small successes, trusting each other) and his vision about the trends.

He was rather an integrated part of the wining collective than a dry boss, and that helped in keeping the unity and strong motivation.

His expertize in retail and his capabilities as a leader were main factors of success story of Castellon store.

I would recommend Javier for even more challenging roles in the retail sector.