144 Years of Benrubi: The Riches, the German Occupation, the Destruction – Why It’s Sold Now –

Pyrex glass pans and tapers. Two household utensils, in fact two brands (Pyrex and Tupperware), which you will find in almost every house from Soufli to Gavdos. Heat-resistant cookware with glass that never breaks, whether you put it in the oven at 300°C or in the freezer at -40°C, was introduced to the Greek market in the distant 1960 by Sam Benroubi, the younger, as well as SEB pressure cookers later , yet another innovation for Greek households.

As of yesterday, just six years before the Benroubis family completed a century and a half of business activity in electrical goods, the company with the main shareholders of Sam Benroubis’ daughters, Alice and Nora, changed hands, passing to the Quest group of Theodoros Fessas.

The reasons for the sale of Benrubi

Continuing to grow the business by opening new markets and maintaining its leading position in the small appliances sector are the reasons why Sam Benrubis’ daughters decided to sell 70% of the shares in Quest, as supported by Benrubis SA . In fact, there is also an option for the Quest group to acquire the remaining 30% of the share capital in the future.

Based on the terms of the agreement, Mrs. Aliki Benroubi will retain the position of managing director of the company and Mrs. Alexia Moustroufi – Benroubi, daughter of Nora, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer.

And to return for a while to… the cupboards of Greek households, by a whim of (business) luck possibly without metaphysical ramifications, a few weeks after the bankruptcy of the American Tupperware and the -also American- Instant Brands, manufacturer of Pyrex glassware and cooking pots Instant Pot speed, entered the bankruptcy code.

However, the managers of Pyrex France, which operates in Europe from La Maison Française du verre, say that the adventures of their colleagues in the US and Canada do not concern the European company “nor is it affected in any way”. Benroubi is the exclusive representative of Pyrex France in Greece since 1959.

Soaring profits and the prospects of small appliances

The sale of Benrubi, i.e. the new company “ANONIMI (NEW) COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL COMPANY FOR HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND HOTEL EQUIPMENT – H. BENRUBI AND SON SA.” which resulted from the 2019 demerger of Benrubi SA, is taking place at a time when its financials are showing a significant increase, as demand is moving upwards and the profit margin recorded by small household appliances is high.

In more detail, in 2023 Benroubi, with Mrs. Aliki Benroubi as president and her sister Nora as vice president, showed a significant increase in turnover compared to the corresponding period of 2022 by 16% to 25.24 million .euros, despite the fact that it did not increase its price list within 2023, while the profitability before taxes was more than double with a particularly improved gross margin, which showed an increase of about 6 percentage points and was formed at 44.3%.

Specifically, net profits before taxes amounted to 3.824 million euros, increased by 115.56% from 2022, and net profitability was 2.85 million euros, recording an increase of 127.77% compared to 2022.

It is also worth mentioning that last year, for the first time, the management proceeded to distribute a dividend, amounting to 632 thousand euros. In total, for last year’s results, the company proposed the distribution of a dividend of 1.475 million euros.

In fact, the company known to the public today with the brands izzy, Pyrex and Babyliss, as well as with the Mega Outlet in Maroussi, maintains optimistic forecasts for the year 2024 expecting a further increase in sales and profitability compared to 2023.

It should be noted that in the period January – July 2024 when the total sales of electrical appliances are reduced by 6.3% in value, 1.61 billion euros from 1.72 billion euros in 2023, small household appliances show sales growth in value by 7%.

A 144-year-old story like a novel

The history of the Benrubis company intertwined with the history of the family begins in 1880 when Sam Benrubis’ father, Heim, together with his grandfather opened a glassware store.

Very soon the business grows and they import products from Europe with sales not only in the domestic market but also in Turkey, Yugoslavia and other neighboring countries.

The 4,000 sq.m. store and the family’s fortunes will be lost in the German Occupation when seventeen members of the extended family are sent to concentration camps, never to return.

Haim Benroubi and his family were hiding for almost two years in Athens and then in Patras and escaped.

After the financial disaster, father Benroubis’ only concern is to send his son to study abroad.

Sam studies as a chemist (specializing in glass and porcelain) in England and France and, collaborating in research with a professor of his, a Nobel laureate, is led to a great invention for the time: he replaces the glass ampoules of medicines with a neutral material, so that the glass does not wear out and therefore the medicine is not destroyed by its mixing with the water.

Having already established himself in France, he returns to Greece to do his military service for three years.

But instead of staying in France forever, as he had decided when his term ended, he returns for a while (so he thought at the time) in order to help his father sell off the merchandise.

With a suitcase in hand, he tried door-to-door, to promote the goods and that’s how the little became forever.

In 1959 he became a representative of Pyrex in the Greek market and four years later he cooperated with his son-in-law Freddy Abravanes. The latter left the company in 1999.

Vacuum cleaners and pressure cookers

Their company was the first to introduce Greek families to vacuum cleaners and pressure cookers, since in the 1960s they introduced the successful Seb (they sold more than 3,000,000 cookers, convincing Greek housewives that they were not putting an… atomic bomb in their kitchen that would burst). Then other successful brands like Moulinex and Tefal come along and their businesses take off.

They succeeded to such an extent that President Mitterrand will award them for their offer of products made in France.

In 2002 and after the company’s stock had already been trading on the AX for 12 years, the Izzy brand was launched, its own brand with the characteristic heart in the logo, which quickly became loved by all Greek consumers, becoming today the number 1 choice in many product categories of small electrical appliances in Greece, while it also has a presence in some foreign markets.

The company’s stock was delisted from the Athens Stock Exchange on 07/09/2010, as a result of the compulsory public offering of the company Sandrina, the interests of the Benroubis family.

In 2014 Sam Benroubi passed away with his two daughters sharing the company.

Source: ot.gr