“Packeta Group, Parent Company of Zásilkovna, For Sale After Difficult Year”

Until recently, it grew mainly organically, i.e. without subsidies from the state, financial investors or significant acquisitions. However, this is to change in the near future at the Czech logistics company Zásilkovna. The Packeta Group, under whose wings it falls, is for sale after a difficult year, and due to the size of the company, it may be one of the biggest business transactions of this year in our country.

Be the first to hear about the happenings in the Post Office pointed out Economic newspaper with the fact that one of the most prominent players in the Czech e-commerce scene has grown rapidly in recent years, but last year it had to save, lay off and solve cash flow problems. According to the quote, the shipping company HN she had “to decide to take advantage of the long-term high interest of investors and find out the conditions under which it could use their funds and know-how to further grow and strengthen its market position”.

“We can confirm that preparations are currently underway to approach selected investors. We will not comment on the details for now, and the results cannot be predicted in any way at this moment.” she added for HN and Simona Kijonková, who founded Zásilkovna thirteen years ago. The transaction could be completed by the end of this year.

In a recent interview for CzechCrunch, Kijonková stated that last year the Packeta group, which in addition to the Czech Republic also operates in Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia, managed to grow its sales by twenty-three percent to 6.1 billion crowns. At the same time, the original plans were higher, which led to austerity measures, including the dismissal of several dozen employees out of a total number of 2,200. Including part-timers. Last month, the company also announced that it had borrowed a total of one billion crowns from three banks.

“Our EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation – editor’s note) has been positive since 2013. In 2022, we finished at the same level as in 2021. Taking into account our investments, economic events and the decline of the e-commerce market, I consider this a great result.” added Kijonková, referring to last year’s decline in the volume of goods sold on the Internet by twelve percent.

Kijonková is part of the JSK Investments vehicle, which she owns with her husband Jaromír, the founder of the billion dollar e-shop with lenses Alensa, according to HN the largest shareholder of Packeta Group with a share of 48.6 percent. Almost 21 percent then belongs to Notin owner Michal Zámek, one of the largest online sellers of cosmetics and drugstores in Europe. Other shareholders include former key programmer Lukáš Bílek, entrepreneur Martin Kukačka, supplier Štěpán Chytka and company executive Petr Vytiska.