6 April 2020

As of 7 April, Jurgita Šlekytė is becoming the CEO of Maxima Grupė UAB and Franmax UAB. In the roles, she is replacing Andris Vilcmeiers, who is leaving the organization which he was leading remotely. The new head of Maxima Grupė is also returning to Maxima Grupė’s board.

“Today Maxima and its employees are on the front line of the battle with the virus. Andris successfully took over the lead at Maxima Grupė, but we realize managing the company while being in another country is not the most suitable solution at this critical time. I have no doubt that, facing a difficult situation, Jurgita Šlekytė will ensure optimal work throughout the group of companies. I also thank Andris for his wholehearted work at Maxima companies during these five years,” says Mantas Kuncaitis, the CEO of the company’s sole shareholder Vilniaus Prekyba UAB.

“Today as never before we need to react in an instant to take care of our employees and meet our customers’ growing expectations. I understand the importance of this situation and am grateful for the trust that is being shown to me,” says Jurgita Šlekytė, the new head of Maxima Grupė.

Jurgita Šlekytė has worked at Maxima Grupė since 2008. In that time, she has held a number of leading positions, served as a member of the supervisory board of Maxima Grupė, as head of the subsidiary Franmax, and as a member of the board of Vilniaus Prekyba. Jurgita holds a law degree from Vilnius University and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Baltic Management Institute (BMI).

Jolantai Bivainytė, the current CEO of Maxima LT, is being also entrusted with leading the board of Maxima Grupė. She chaired the board from December 2019 until March this year.

To further strengthen the group’s management and optimize decision-making, Petar Pavlov, the CEO of Maxima Bulgaria EOOD, is also joining the board of Maxima Grupė. He has been leading Maxima Bulgaria since 16 July 2019 but has been with the organization from the time it was established in 2005.

The new board of Maxima Grupė consists of: Jolanta Bivainytė (the chairwoman), Jurgita Šlekytė, Arūnas Zimnickas, Viktors Troicins, Edvinas Volkas, Petar Pavlov and Vitalij Rakovski.

Additional information

Maxima Grupė owns the retail chains Maxima (in the Baltic countries), Stokrotka (in Poland), and T-Market (in Bulgaria), as well as e-grocer Barbora which operates in the Baltics.

Maxima Grupė’s consolidated revenue in the first half of 2019 grew by 23.9% versus the same period a year earlier to EUR 1.9 billion. Consolidated EBITDA was EUR 142 million. During the period, the group invested more than EUR 49 million in fixed assets.

Maxima Grupė is part of the Vilniaus Prekyba group, which controls and manages the group of subsidiary companies operating chains of retail stores and pharmacies as well as real estate development and property management companies in the Baltic States, Sweden, Poland and Bulgaria.