View source for KNI A/S

{{Short description|Danish trade conglomerate}}
{{other uses|KNI (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox company 
| name             = KNI<br/><small>Greenland Trade</small>
| logo             = Greenland Trade (KNI) Logo.gif
| type             = [[Government-owned corporation]]
| predecessor      = [[Royal Greenland Trading Department]] (KGH)
| foundation       = KGH: 1774<br/>Kalaallit Niuerfiat: 1986<br/>KNI: 1992
| location_city    = [[Sisimiut]]
| location_country = [[Greenland]]
| key_people       =  Peter Grønvold Samuelsen
| area_served      = Greenland
| industry         = [[Retail]]<br/>[[Public service]]s<br/>[[Bottling company|Beverage]]<br/>[[Liquid fuels]]<br/>[[Lubricants]]<br/>[[Service industry|Service]]
| products         = 
| revenue          = [[Danish krone|DKK]] 1,314,916,000
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = DKK 70,643,000
| num_employees    = 804
| parent           = 
| subsid           = Neqi & [[KNI Ejendomme A/S|KNI Ejendomme]] (100%)<br/>[[Akia Sisimiut A/S|Akia Sisimiut]] (82.5%)
| homepage         = [http://www.kni.gl/ kni.gl]
| footnotes        = <small>(2011<ref name="KNI11"/>)</small>
}}

'''KNI [[Aktieselskab|A/S]]''' or '''Greenland Trade'''<ref name="nanook">Greenland Home Rule. "About Greenland:  [http://uk.nanoq.gl/Emner/About/Resources_and_industry.aspx Resources and Industry] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223085319/http://uk.nanoq.gl/Emner/About/Resources_and_industry.aspx |date=2012-02-23 }}". Accessed 30 Apr 2012.</ref> ({{langx|kl|Kalaallit Niuerfiat}}, {{langx|da|Grønlands Handel}}) is a trading conglomerate in [[Greenland]]. It is the successor to the [[Royal Greenland Trading Department]], which controlled the government of Greenland itself from 1774 to 1908 and possessed a monopoly on Greenlandic trade from 1776 to 1950. Today, the company remains a major component of the [[economy of Greenland|Greenlandic economy]] and remains [[government-owned corporation|fully owned]] by the [[Parliament of Greenland|local government]].<ref name="KNI11">KNI. "[http://www.kni.gl/imagesContent/kni-halvaarsrapport-en-1112.pdf Interim Report]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}". Sept 2011. Accessed 30 Apr 2012.</ref> The company is based in [[Sisimiut]] (Holsteinsborg), Greenland's [[list of cities in Greenland|second-largest city]], located in mid-western Greenland's [[Qeqqata Municipality]].<ref name="kni">KNI. "[http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=68 ''Ledende medarbejdere''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423145356/http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=68 |date=2012-04-23 }}" ("Executives"). Accessed 30 Apr 2012. {{in lang|da}}</ref>

== History ==
{{main|Royal Greenland Trading Department}}

The '''Royal Greenland Trading Department''' (''Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel'', KGH) was founded in 1774 as a [[Denmark-Norway|Dano-Norwegian]] [[government-owned corporation|state enterprise]] charged with administering the Danish settlements and trade in [[Greenland]]. In the early 20th century, most of its administrative functions were lost to the [[Danish Ministry of the Interior]] and the company's monopoly was finally ended in 1950. Following the establishment of the [[Home rule#Greenland home rule|Home Rule Government]] in 1979, control of KGH was ceded in 1986<ref>MIPI. "[http://mipi.nanoq.gl/sitecore/content/Websites/nanoq/Emner/Om%20Groenland/Trafikforhold/Trafikstruktur_2006/Links/KNI.aspx Pilersuisoq KNI A/S] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721212938/http://mipi.nanoq.gl/sitecore/content/Websites/nanoq/Emner/Om%20Groenland/Trafikforhold/Trafikstruktur_2006/Links/KNI.aspx# |date=2015-07-21 }}". Accessed 2 May 2012. {{in lang|da}}</ref><ref name="sak">Dahl, Jens. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WIciyhVD0soC&pg=PA61 Saqqaq: An Inuit Hunting Community in the Modern World]''. 
Univ. of Toronto Press, 2000.</ref> and the company was reorganized as '''Kalaallit Niuerfiat'''.<ref>Culture Greenland. "[http://www.kultur.gl/gnbd_kgh_uk.htm Preliminary Studies in KGH's Photo-Archive] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306235842/http://www.kultur.gl/gnbd_kgh_uk.htm |date=2012-03-06 }}". Accessed 2 May 2012.</ref> This was then reorganized into the KNI conglomerate in 1992.<ref name="KNIhist">KNI. "[http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=64 ''Kort historie om KNI''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423145202/http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=64# |date=2012-04-23 }} [A Short History of KNI]". Accessed 28 Apr 2012. {{in lang|da}}</ref>

The conglomerate's fishing operations were spun off as [[Royal Greenland A/S]] in 1990 and its shipping operations as [[Royal Arctic Line A/S]] in 1992. On January 1, 1993, KNI was restructured into a holding company KNI-mik Piginnittut and two subsidiaries, KNI Pisiffik and KNI Pilersuisoq, both including aspects of the parent company's retail division.<ref>Randburg.com. "[http://www.randburg.com/gr/kniholdi.html KNI Holding A/S] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120914083139/http://www.randburg.com/gr/kniholdi.html# |date=2012-09-14 }}". Accessed 30 Apr 2012.</ref> KNI Pisiffik was based in Greenland's larger towns and was an experiment in running the stores without government subsidy; KNI Pilersuisoq was located in the more distant and less populous towns and was understood to require public underwriting. [[Pisiffik A/S]] was then spun off in 2001<ref name="about">Pisiffik A/S. "[http://www.pisiffik.gl/en/Om%20os.aspx Om os] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729115649/http://pisiffik.gl/en/Om%20os.aspx# |date=2010-07-29 }}". Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref><ref>Kamikposten. "[http://www.kamikposten.dk/global/maskinrum/rutine/leksikon.aspx?udvalgt=2001031501&folder=hvadermeningen&sprog=da&tag=alleartikler Hvad vil Pisiffik A/S?]". 15 Mar 2001. Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref> and the competition between the two chains blossomed into a price war after KNI opened a discount Pilersuisoq in [[Aasiaat]] in 2008,<ref>''[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]''. "[http://sermitsiaq.ag/erhverv/article53636.ece KNI-formand afviser løftebrud] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120714200841/http://sermitsiaq.ag/erhverv/article53636.ece# |date=2012-07-14 }}". 4 Sept 2008. Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref><ref>''[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]''. "[http://sermitsiaq.gl/indland/article66946.ece Butikskrig i Aasiaat]". 11 Dec 2008. Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref> even though both companies were state-owned at the time (A majority stake in Pisiffik has since been sold to [[Dagrofa]], a Danish food concern).

[[File:Ilulissat-gas-station.jpg|thumb|A gas station in [[Ilulissat]].]]

==Divisions==

=== Pilersuisoq ===
{{main|Pilersuisoq}}
Since the initial experiment, KNI has folded '''Pilersuisoq''' back in as a division of the parent company. It continues to operate a chain of all-purpose [[general store]]s in remote locations under government subsidy (roughly DKK 40m per year<ref name="KNI11"/>) as well as some smaller towns still unserved by Pisiffik or the newer entrant [[Brugseni|Brugsen]]. It also operates some [[Post Greenland]] and [[Bank of Greenland]] offices,<ref>[[Bank of Greenland]]. "[http://www.banken.gl/ContentId/136/Default.aspx?MenuItemId=142 Historie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202043030/http://www.banken.gl/ContentId/136/Default.aspx?MenuItemId=142 |date=2014-02-02 }}". Accessed 27 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref> manages [[Duty-free shop|duty-free stores]] at [[Kangerlussuaq Airport|Kangerlussuaq]] and [[Narsarsuaq Airport]]s,<ref>Pilersuisoq Dutyfree. "[https://archive.today/20120730062954/http://www.dutyfree.gl/info.asp?InfoType=Welcome Kangerlussuaq/Narsarsuaq]". Accessed 27 Aug 2010.</ref> and services for [[Air Greenland]] related to helicopter flights to and from the smaller settlements.

=== Polaroil ===
Another division is the company's [[liquid fuel]] distribution network, '''Polaroil''', which employs 70 full-time-equivalent staff and operates 70 stations across Greenland.<ref name="polaroil">KNI. "[http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=348 Polaroil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721031858/http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=348# |date=2011-07-21 }}". Accessed 27 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref> The removal of its headquarters from [[Maniitsoq]] to Sisimiut in 2010 provoked protests from the small community already experiencing depopulation.<ref>[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]. "[http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article108145.ece Ruth H. i oprør] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128080251/http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article108145.ece# |date=2010-01-28 }}" 12 Jan 2010. Accessed 27 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref>

== Subsidiaries ==
The company wholly owns two subsidiary companies {{ndash}} Neqi A/S and KNI Ejendomme A/S {{ndash}} and has a strong majority stake (82.5%) in a third {{ndash}} Akia Sisimiut A/S.

===Neqi===
Neqi A/S is another grocery store chain, selling fish and meat along with Greenlandic produce made economical through guaranteed purchasing provided by KNI on behalf of the Greenlandic government.<ref>[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]. "[http://sermitsiaq.ag/brugsen-satser-groenlandske-kartofler Brugsen satser på grønlandske kartofler]". 3 Aug 2007. Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref><ref>[[Sermitsiaq (newspaper)|Sermitsiaq]]. "[http://sermitsiaq.ag/heldig-kartoffel En heldig kartoffel]". 28 Aug 2010. Accessed 28 Aug 2010. {{in lang|da}}</ref><ref>KNI. "[http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=348 Neqi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721031858/http://www.kni.gl/sub.asp?lang=da&section=info&contentID=348# |date=2011-07-21 }}". Accessed 27 Aug 2010.</ref> The principal slaughterhouse is in [[Narsaq]].

===KNI Property===
KNI Ejendomme A/S is a wholly owned subsidiary which manages KNI's real estate holdings and investments.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Sisimiut}}
{{Companies of Greenland}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:KNI A S}}
[[Category:Conglomerate companies of Greenland]]
[[Category:Companies based in Sisimiut]]
[[Category:Conglomerate companies established in 1992]]
[[Category:Sisimiut]]
[[Category:Government-owned companies of Greenland]]
[[Category:1992 establishments in Greenland]]