Laima (company)
Laima is the largest confectionery manufacturer in Latvia . The company is based in Riga and is named after " Laima ", the goddess of fate in Latvian mythology .
history
The company's roots go back to the 19th century. Theodor Riegert founded a company in 1871 that developed into the largest manufacturer of confectionery products in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire . Although the Russian market was lost after the First World War , the company was able to maintain a dominant position in Latvia afterwards.
The rival company "LW Goegginger" had been producing candies, chocolate and various canned foods since 1881. From 1910 Vilhelms Ķuze sold sweets and chocolate under the brand name " Staburadze " .
Another chocolate producer was the rapidly expanding company " Laima ", founded in 1925 . When their Jewish owners emigrated to Palestine in 1937, the Latvian state bought the shares in the companies “ AS Riegert ” and “ Laima ” and merged the two companies.
In 1941 all private companies were nationalized. Laima specialized in the production of chocolate and pralines , LW Goegginger was renamed “ Uzvara ” and made sweets, “ Staburadze ” was now called “ June 17th ” and made pastries. The reprivatisation as a stock corporation took place in 1993 for " Laima " and 1994 for " Uzvara ". In 1998 they merged under the name “Laima”, “Uzvara” was retained as a brand name, as was “Staburadze”, which had already merged into Laima.
Todays situation
Unlike other regional brand manufacturers, such as “Karūna” in Lithuania, “ Marabou ” in Sweden and “Freia” in Norway, which belong to the American Mondelēz group , Laima has so far been able to avert the takeover by a global company. The main shareholder of Laima is the "Nordic Partners Group" , which in turn is majority controlled by the Icelandic investor Gísli Reinison . Laima went public in December 2006, but this step was revised in July 2007 by a share buyback.
Today “Laima” is the largest manufacturer of sweets in the Baltic States and produces national and regional specialties such as carotinated white chocolate with whole pieces of caraway. The total annual production is 16,000 tons, the annual turnover is 24 million Lat (about 34 million euros, 2015); 700 people are employed at Laima.
Laima has been part of the Norwegian Orkla Group since 2015 .
Worth mentioning
_196.JPG)
- The chocolate candy Serenāde has the longest brand history in Laima's current range. The recipe has not changed since 1937.
- The Laima clock in Riga not far from the Freedom Monument is a popular and much-celebrated meeting place in the Latvian capital. The clock was set up in 1924 with the intent that workers would arrive for work on time.
Web links
- LAIMA (Latvian, Russian, Estonian, Slovak, English)
- Latvian chocolate packaging from different decades (Czech, English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ About Laima: History ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English, accessed June 23, 2011)
- ↑ No Ķuzes līdz Staburadzei ( Memento of the original dated December 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Latvian, accessed June 23, 2011)
