The Brno company Zetor Tractors returned to profit last year after three years of losses. For 2021, it reported a profit after taxation of 206 million crowns, a year earlier it was 217 million in loss.
Zetor’s sales also increased, by a full fifth to 2.23 billion crowns. This follows from the company’s annual report published in the Collection of Documents.
“The year 2021 also brought an unprecedented price rise for almost all input commodities, including all energies. This was exacerbated by the lack of labor capacity resources due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, which greatly crippled and sometimes even stopped the supply chain,” the company’s management said.
Although the demand for the machines of the Brno company grew in 2021, the sale of tractors decreased slightly, from 1,788 tractors sold to 1,769. According to the annual report, the reason was supply chain disruptions and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Robot in the field. Pulls weeds, doses fertilizer and monitors plant health
In industrialized countries, usually only two to three percent of the economically active population work in agriculture. They manage their work thanks to purposefully bred crops, strong mechanization and industrial chemistry. But even that is no longer enough.
The celebrations of the brand’s 75th anniversary were canceled by covid
Due to the pandemic, most of the fairs where Zetor usually presents its new products did not take place. Thus, the manufacturer presented the modernized Major model, for example, at the Země zhivitelka exhibition, which was one of the few that took place. The manufacturer had to convert most of the promotion into online form.
In 2021, Zetor celebrated the 75th anniversary of the brand’s existence. However, the company had to cancel most of the planned events for the celebrations due to covid.
Zetor Tractors plans for this year increasing the production of tractors due to the ever-increasing demand. It also plans extensive digitization of its systems and the creation of a unified information system for the Brno plant, but the company would gradually like to add its foreign offices to it. The new system should allow for better adaptation of the production schedule and use of more efficient tools for managing workshops, logistics and other departments.
Chemistry and agriculture brought Agrofert’s profit to almost six billion crowns last year
Last year, the consolidated sales of the Agrofert concern increased by 15 percent to 184.8 billion crowns. Profit after tax rose by more than half to 5.8 billion crowns from 3.8 billion crowns in 2020. According to the holding, the growth in sales is mainly due to an increase in sales prices in the chemical segment in response to a significant increase in input costs, and the growth in profit is mainly due to an improvement management in the chemical and agricultural segments, said the spokesperson of the concern, Pavel Heřmanský.
Even though Zetor is the strongest brand in the Czech Republic, most of its production goes abroad. In addition to Slovakia, products from the Brno factory are mainly sent to Poland, Lithuania, Ireland, Germany, Great Britain, France, the USA or Bulgaria.
The Zetor brand was originally created as a department of Zbrojovka in Brno, the first three tractors were delivered to customers in March 1946, since the same year a trademark has also been registered, which combines the former name of Zbrojovka “Zet” with the ending of the word tractor. The company moved to its current site in the mid-1950s. After the fall of the communist regime and the collapse of traditional markets, the company hovered on the brink of existence. Last year, the company employed 476 people.
Results season is here. Investors will focus more on recession signals than profits
The results season for the second quarter and the entire half-year is coming. The market expects a high increase in sales and profits in the energy sector. However, this time it will be much more important for active investors to monitor how the margins of individual companies change, whether the mood of consumers changes and what impact the war in Ukraine and lockdowns in China have. This will indicate whether a recession is imminent or whether the situation is turning for the better.
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