Victoria rolls out red carpet for new hard flooring director

Flooring designer, manufacturer and distributor Victoria announced the non-board appointment of Jan Debrouwere as the group's director of business development for hard flooring on Monday, with immediate effect, reporting directly to the group's CEO Philippe Hamers.

The AIM-traded company said Debrouwere was bringing 28 years of expertise in manufacturing, selling and marketing of “all kinds” of hard flooring with him - a product group which the board said represented “significant” growth potential for Victoria.

It described Debrouwere as a “focused entrepreneur”, with a passion for product development, design and innovation.

His appointment was said to be an “important” step as the group was seeking to secure customers, suppliers and acquisitions to gain market share in the growing hard flooring market.

For the last four years, Debrouwere headed the successful turnaround of Beaulieu International Group's worldwide hard flooring business - a multi-product, multi-national division with a turnover of €500m, overseeing multiple production sites and sales teams in Russia, USA and Europe.

In that role, he initiated and oversaw multi-million euro greenfield start-ups to produce LVT and sheet vinyl both in Europe and the US.

Debrouwere was also pivotal to the acquisition and successful integration of one of Russia's largest flooring distributors into BIG, the Victoria board explained.

Prior to that role, he held senior management positions at IVC - part of Mohawk Industries, Domo - acquired by Balta Group in 2010, and Tarkett.

“Victoria is very determined to grow its existing successful hard flooring business, which we believe represents a significant opportunity for us,” said chairman Geoff Wilding.

“With almost three decades of flooring experience in Europe, we are delighted to have secured such a senior and experienced individual as Jan to run our hard flooring division.

“As a very driven entrepreneur who is extremely well-known in the industry, Jan will be a fabulous asset to us as we materially develop our hard flooring business across the UK and Europe.”