P. Cutajar and Co. Ltd has decided to exit the photo business and to channel its resources to consolidate and grow its core importation and distribution business, chief executive officer Tony Zammit Cutajar told The Sunday Times.

The company, which represents world-renowned brands, is planning to move to new, 3,000-square metre premises in San Ġwann in early 2011. This move will release the company's 2,000-square metre headquarters in Mrieħel, for which several development options are being studied.

P. Cutajar and Co. will, as it has done throughout its 145 year history, seek to diversify its business and move into sectors ancillary to its wide-ranging food and beverage operation, supported by its a well-established distribution channels and experienced sales force.

"2010 has been a year of important strategic decisions for the future of P, Cutajar and Co. Ltd," Mr Zammit Cutajar said. "While our history dates to the 19th century, we are adapting our business with optimism to the challenges of the early 21st."

He emphasised the board was mindful of the challenges posed by modern-day market forces, particularly the Maltese's growing penchant for online purchases, increased brand and pricing competition and changes in consumer trends driven by large international supermarket chains.

Mr Zammit Cutajar explained the company's decision to exit the photography business was spurred by the slowdown in the retail end of the sector forced by technology. The conventional business model - films and prints - has been all but replaced by digital technology and the company will shed its long-held image of 'Cutajar tal-Kodak' which it has carried with pride for over 70 years.

He said P. Cutajar and Co. was able to ride the technological wave that made it the leading film processor in the country from the late 1960s to the turn of the century, in the knowledge that the next wave "that washed the business onto the rocks" loomed somewhere on the horizon.

Waves of "disruptive technology" have been frequent in recent decades. Many have led to alternatives like telex to fax to e-mail; others, like digital photography combined with image storage on computers - have virtually wiped out film and printing services off the map.

"We have a strong business but we cannot afford to be sentimental," Mr Zammit Cutajar pointed out. "We will strive to be efficient, competitive and increase our service levels. The new premises in San Ġwann will provide a bigger and better platform for our core business of import distribution. Our portfolio includes prestigious brands like Ferrero, Lavazza, Martini and Rossi, Dewar's, Highland Spring, Pasqua and J.P. Chenet, among the beverages, as well as the Solaris sunglasses franchise in the retail sector.

"We are sharpening our focus and our competitiveness, leaving aside lines that have reached the end of their useful lives, making room to expand into new fields that cater for consumers of today and tomorrow."

Mr Zammit Cutajar pointed out that P. Cutajar had been here before on both counts. This was not the first time it had had to adapt to changes in the market landscape nor was it the company's first relocation.

P. Cutajar traces its origins in commodities trading, shipping and coal bunkering to the mid-19th century, when founder Paul Cutajar established a business in an office adjacent to his home on Valletta's Kingsway. In 1880, he became Martini's first overseas representative.

In 1908, the business moved to 12, St Paul's Street, and relocated again to its current 2,000-square metre Mrieħel premises in 1985 after it outgrew its headquarters in the capital.

P. Cutajar and Co. essentially remains a family business but has been open to the involvement of non-family members in its governance: its board includes two non-family members and is chaired by Malta Chamber president Helga Ellul.

Now in its four and fifth generation, P. Cutajar and Co. will continue to build on its solid reputation for sound business practice.

Mr Zammit Cutajar welcomed the recent Appeals Court ruling finding company directors personally liable for debts. He has been particularly vociferous over the years in calling for this outcome.

"Now we have it that company directors will be held personally responsible when their business goes under and they did not act diligently and forcefully to put things right," he warned.