 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| BIT: AMP | |
| Industry | Manufacturing, wholesale distribution |
| Founded | 1950 |
| Founder | Algernon Charles Holland |
| Headquarters | Milan , Italy |
Key people | Susan Carol Holland, chairman and 44.9% owner |
| Products | hearing aids |
| Revenue | € 1,372.7 million (2018) [1] (2018) |
| € 113.4 million (2018) [1] (2018) | |
Number of employees | 16,000 [1] (2018) |
| Subsidiaries | Miracle-Ear Gaes |
Amplifon SpA is an Italian company based in Milan and the world's largest hearing aid retailer. [2]
Amplifon was founded in 1950 in Milan by Algernon Charles Holland, a former official of the British special forces, involved in the Italian Resistance movement. [3] At the end of World War II, he started a company aimed at supporting those who experienced hearing loss due to the conflict, establishing a widespread local presence and building a solid relationship with hearing care professionals. [4]
In the 1960s and the 1970s, Amplifon opened stores in every region of Italy, becoming the market leader in the supply, sales, and fitting of hearing aids. [5] In 1971, the Amplifon Centre for Research and Studies (CRS) was founded: an independent organisation aimed at spreading knowledge in the audiological and otological fields, through resources and research. [6]
During the 90s, Amplifon began tailoring the services to the client, rolling out the first digital hearing aids in Italy in 1996. In this period, the company gained a market share of over 40%. [7] [8]
In 1992, a new company was founded in Spain, Amplifon Iberica, which expanded into Portugal a few years later. [9] Between 1998 and 2000, Amplifon entered Switzerland, Austria, France, [8] Netherlands [10] and the United States markets through acquisitions. [11]
The Amplifon stock started to be traded in the Borsa Italiana in June 2001. [12] In the same year, they entered a joint venture with Bardissi Medical in the Middle East, [11] in Egypt, alongside the acquisition of stores in Hungary. [13] In 2002, Amplifon acquired the Sonus Corporation in the United States, and later in 2003 took hold of the National Hearing Centers, a company with stores located primarily in large shopping centres. [14]
In the following years Amplifon continued its acquisition strategy in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium. [11] In 2010, in fact, the company acquired 100% of National Hearing Care (NHC) in Australia, New Zealand and India. [15] [16] [17] In 2012 they expanded into more regions in India, [18] acquired 51% of Maxtone in the Turkish Market, [19] and entered the Polish market by founding Amplifon Poland. [20] Brazil followed in 2014 with Amplifon's purchase of 51% of shares in the Brazilian company Direito de Ouvir.[ citation needed ]
In 2016 the company invested Euro 80 million to acquire 170 stores, including two retail chains in Germany and another in Canada. In 2017, Amplifon invested a further Euro 110 million for the acquisition of 300 stores, including two retail chains in France and Portugal. [12]
A year later, Amplifon completed its largest acquisition, acquiring the Spanish GAES for Euro 528 million. GAES has 600 stores (about 500 in Spain, and the remainder scattered across Portugal and Latin America), [21] [22] 1,800 employees, and 210 million in revenue. [12]
Since 2015, the Amplifon stock value tripled, outperforming the FTSE MIB, the index of the top 40 listed companies in the Borsa Italiana. [12] As of August 2018, the share price has risen nearly 1,000% since its IPO. [3]
The chairman is Susan Carol Holland, daughter of Algernon, who owns 44.9% of Amplifon through her family's holding company. [2]
Amplifon has an 11% global market share, and is present in 29 countries, in the geographic areas of EMEA, the Americas, and APAC. [1] [23]
The company operates through a network of about 5,150 direct points of sale, 4,000 shop-in-shops and corners and 1,800 stores affiliated with the network, employing 16,000 employees overall. [1] The business is primarily focused on the sale and fitting of hearing aids. [24]
Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate based in Milan. As a vertically integrated company, Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails its eyewear brands all through its own subsidiaries. The company, presently organized as a subsidiary of EssilorLuxottica which formed when the Italian conglomerate merged with the French optical firm Essilor, is the world's largest company in its industry, both prior to and after its merger with Essilor.
TIM S.p.A. is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, which provides fixed telephony and DSL data services.
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).
Mundys SpA is an Italian holding company active in the motorway and airport infrastructure and mobility-related services industry, operating tolling services in 24 countries, including 11 for motorway and airport infrastructure concessions.
Borsa Italiana, based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.
Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberalisation of the electricity market in Italy, Enel was privatised. The Italian state, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is the main shareholder, with 23.6% of the share capital as of 1 April 2016.
Ferretti S.p.A. is a multinational shipbuilding company headquartered in Forlì which specialises in the design, construction and sale of luxury motor yachts. Its products are sold under the brands Wally, Ferretti Yachts, Custom Line, Pershing, Itama, Riva, Mochi Craft and CRN.
Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. is an Italian international banking group. It is Italy's largest bank by total assets and the world's 27th largest. It was formed through the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in 2007, but has a corporate identity stretching back to its first foundation as Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino in 1583.
Damiani S.p.A or Damiani Group, is an Italian luxury jewelry corporate group that designs, manufactures, distributes and sells jewelry and luxury watches. It was founded in Italy in 1924. The company uses celebrity endorsements to market its products. In the early 2000s the company had a dispute with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston regarding the use of their names and wedding ring designs. The dispute was settled for $50 million and the couple helped Damiani create and market a line of products. Damiani expanded across Asia and the US. It went public in 2007 and its most well-known jewelry product brands are Calderoni, Salvini, Alfieri & St. John and Bliss.
Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is an Italian coffee company that owns multiples of brands. Massimo Zanetti developed the firm during 1970s after he moved to Bologna and acquired a local company called Segafredo, an historic coffee producer with a fairly well known brand. With turnover of around US$1.2 billion per year, it claims to be the biggest private company in the coffee industry.
YOOX Net-a-Porter Group S.p.A. is an Italian online fashion retailer created on 5 October 2015 after the merger between Yoox Group and Net-a-porter Group (NAP).
The Banca Ifis S.p.A. Group is an Italian finance company that specialises in lending services to undertakings, and acquiring/servicing non-performing loan portfolios.
MAIRE is a company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
World Duty Free SpA, the holding company of World Duty Free Group, is an Italy-based multinational travel retailer that employs almost 8,500 people.
FinecoBank S.p.A., known as FinecoBank or just Fineco is an Italian bank that specializes in online brokerage. Launched in 1999 with its Fineco Online service for retail traders, Fineco became a listed company in 2014 and has been independent from UniCredit banking group since 2019.
Blu S.p.A. was an Italian telecommunications company operating in the mobile telephony sector.
Società Italiana per Condotte d'Acqua SpA, known simply as Condotte d'acqua is an Italian company that operates in the engineering and construction sector.
Datalogic S.p.A. is an Italian company working in the automatic data capture and process automation markets. The group specializes in the design and production of barcode readers, mobile computers, radio-frequency identification, sensors for detection, measurement and safety, vision and laser marking systems. Datalogic products are used in many supermarkets and points of sale, at airports, at shipping and postal services, and in factories and hospitals worldwide.
