Uvenco Russia, the largest operator of vending machines in Eastern Europe, has entered into a joint venture with Glimmer Europe. Glimmer is led by Blair Jenkins, the ex CEO of SnackTime PLC, the UK’s 3rd largest vending operator. Uvenco is owned by Boris Belotserkovsky, a prominent Russian businessman and President of the Russian Vending Association (RNVA).
Uvenco operates a range of cutting-edge vending machines with world-class bi-directional telemetry capability. Most models feature full-face touch screens and have built in cashless payment systems as standard.
Blair Jenkins founded SnackTime and took it to a stock market listing inside 7 years. Within 10 years SnackTime had become the UK’s 3rd largest vending operator with revenues of £25M and over 30,000 customers.
The goal of the Joint Venture is to establish a large operational base in the UK vending market through a combination of organic and acquisitional growth. Britain is Uvenco’s first Western European Joint Venture.
Blair and Boris have increased their combined shareholding of SnackTime PLC and have notified the AIM stock exchange regulators that they are related parties in the UK.
Boris Belotserkovsky, Chairman & Owner of UVENCO Russia said: “We have quickly established ourselves as the leading vending operator in Eastern Europe and now seek to bring our technology and skills to Western Europe. We believe the UK is an ideal place to start western European operations because of its acceptance of new ideas and pragmatic labour laws. We believe that the combination of Blair’s financial resources, entrepreneurial skills, UK vending expertise and corporate business experience make him an ideal partner for Uvenco.”
Blair Jenkins commented: “The Joint Venture places us in a keen position in the UK vending market. We are in acquisition discussions with a number of UK Operators and we anticipate completing our first UK acquisition within the next few months”
Sergei Kornienko, CEO of Uvenco Russia added “We believe that the innovative cash control and MIS/telemetry systems built into the Uvenco machines will help deliver a distinct cash advantage to our UK operations and to our UK customers.”
So, what do you think? Is this a Russian invasion or a welcome development? Planet Vending welcomes your comments
