In this exclusive interview, we explore the journey behind the rebranding, how the combined strengths of three companies shape A&P Nutrition’s vision, and the value this transformation brings to customers and partners.
Dr. Lukas Maier shares key insights on market positioning, strategic goals, innovation, and the future of animal nutrition. We also dive into R&D priorities, opportunities for innovation toward 2030, and the critical role of education and knowledge-sharing in building long-term customer relationships.
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You are the CEO of a new brand with a long history. Can you elaborate on the history and journey?
In the last two and a half years we brought together two very recognized and longlasting brands with Agromed and Patent-Co, from Serbia and Austria. I would say the biggest challenge but also the most exciting thing was harmonizing and bringing two cultures together and bringing them under one roof. And this we celebrated yesterday as we officially introduced the new brand to the audience and here into the industry with A&P Nutrition.
How does the new brand reflect the combined strengths of the three companies?
I think the harmonization and also the collaboration between the two long-lasting brands gave us the possibility to even get closer to the client.
- In the past we’ve been very product-centristic, very R&D-driven and we developed more into a solution provider by having the biggest goal in understanding our customer best and being longlasting and developing longlasting partnerships based on the excellence of our people and also based on the performance-enhancing products that we have in our portfolio.
How will customers and partners benefit from the new brand?
It’s not just the introduction of a new brand. If you bring two longlasting organizations together, you need to give them first of all a home, a new corporate identity.
But the main important thing is that we share the same values. The main difference is that everything we do is built on trust. This should bring us into a favorable long-lasting partnership with our clients. Secondly, we are dedicated and highly engaged in terms of having passion for excellence. So it’s about authority. It’s about having the right people in place who make the difference. And last but not least, I’m very proud, currently in our team, we are having 17 different nationalities, which means we are cross-cultural.
- I think this is the main difference.
- We can understand and also act in all kind of continents.
- Our most strategic target markets are Latin America and Southeast Asia where we also have built and established strong teams with local authority and also local expertise in terms of long relations in the local industries.
If you could describe the new brand in three words, what would they be ?
I would say fast, excellent, and at the end of the day, understanding.
How does this rebranding position you in the market compared to your competitors?
I would say one of the biggest differentiation that we have is “our team”. We have established in the last two years and we almost doubled our team. We are currently having over 70 people; more than half are really having the step on the ground, being as close as at the customer as possible, giving us the possibility to better understand.
- It’s not about providing a product and supplying it.
- It’s more or less of providing a solution based on really understanding the problem of the customer.
- I think this is the main differentiations that we have.
What are your immediate and long-term strategic goals under the new brand?
This is pretty clear. We have a very strong growth strategy in place, focusing, as I mentioned, on Latin America currently in Southeast Asia. We are on the way to intensify also our market performance and also market penetration in the Middle East. But we also have big white spots, China, India, I would say target are market for the future. The sky is even here not the limit.
- I’m really thinking that this very dynamic development that we have seen in the last especially two years where we started the collaboration between these two companies under the AWA umbrella which needs to be double digit on a yearly basis is the proof of the concept and here we will strongly work and put all the efforts that we keep the pace.
How will the rebranding support innovation and growth moving forward?
Here I would say that the main differences, and here I will come back to one of the main principles of cooperatives, is that what one cannot do we will achieve together. And by bringing the teams together, I have a much better professionalization in terms of product management, in terms of marketing, but especially also in terms of R&D. I can now really invest in bringing our products into the next level. We have a strong innovation pipeline in place and I’m curious what to come and hopefully also our customers.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in animal nutrition by 2030?
At the end of the day everything is about efficiency and performance. We are living on one world. We are having a protein gap. We need to use each single input of feed in the best possible way, meaning that we cannot afford at the end of the day to lose efficiency in raising livestock.
- Meaning also that our solutions, our portfolio is exactly doing that.
- Here, honestly, I think our portfolio and we as A&P nutrition are the key of driving performance in a sustainable way for the industry.
What are your priorities for R&D in the next 3–5 years?
We have a heavy or a strong focus on developing our mycotoxin binding range further. So it’s about really taking the next step in terms of integrating bacteria, and active ingredients, into these products.
- Also having the possibility to bind besides the normal known toxins also fuminosine for example so this is here one strong core in terms of innovation and R&D.
- And secondly, it’s about microbiome integrity. We need to understand that better science gives us here already some answers. But here we really focus on how to manage that in the best possible way for our clients.
What role does education and knowledge-sharing play in your customer engagement strategy?
We have set it up pretty early between our two heritage companies was a competent center. We tried to bring really all the expertise that we have in our team on the table.
- So we are having this format in place four times a year where R&D innovation but also sales and product management are elaborating on our existing projects.
- And I think this is key bringing as many brains together to find the best possible solution to really having then also the product in place which makes the difference and brings us also test in the future.