Packeta, which owns the logistics company Zásilkovna, is for sale. Packeta’s shareholders have agreed on this. The largest, almost half share in the company is held by the husband and wife team of Simona and Jaromír Kijonko, who are ready to leave the ownership structure. According to the daily, the sale could value Packeta in the higher units of billions of crowns, and the transaction could be completed by the end of this year in the most optimistic scenario.
Packeta said in a statement to HN that it had “decided to take advantage of the long-standing high interest of investors and to identify conditions under which it could use their funds and know-how to further grow and strengthen its market position”. Kijonková also confirmed the information. “Preparations are currently underway to approach selected investors. We will not comment further on the details and the results cannot be predicted in any way at this time,” she said. According to the daily, the sale process is being managed by Corpin and Redbaenk, which are active in corporate and financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions.
A number of other Czech technology firms have carried out similar processes in recent years. However, according to Capitalinked.com analyst Radim Dohnal, this year’s sale of the business is much worse than in 2021, when Czech investors sold Mall.cz at the last minute. “This year, e-commerce and retail have a much worse outlook, interest rates are much higher, there is a risk of tax increases. I can’t imagine that buyers will pay more than one times sales or 18 times profit, so I expect the purchase price to be in the range of CZK 3bn to CZK 6bn,” he said.
Mr and Mrs Kijonko hold 48.6 percent in Packet, having increased their stake by two percent last year thanks to money from Slovak billionaire Martin Kusik. Almost 21 percent of Packeta is owned by the Notino perfume and cosmetics e-shop. Ten per cent shares are held by Lukáš Bílek, a former key programmer at Zásilkovna, and Jindřichův Hradec businessman Martin Kukačka, who got it in exchange for involvement in his e-shop and hosting service. Similarly, the supplier Štěpán Chytka got his four percent stake a few years ago. A small share in the current structure also belongs to the company’s managing director Petr Vytiska.
Packeta has so far financed its development and expansion from its own financial resources, and in April this year it obtained financing of CZK 1 billion from a consortium of three banks.
The Packeta Group has long posted operating and net profits, with turnover up 23 per cent to CZK 6.1 billion in 2022. The number of shipments transported rose by a quarter last year to nearly 90 million. At the end of last year, Packeta had more than 15,000 outlets in four countries. Packeta plans to maintain double-digit sales growth in the coming years.
Packeta’s investment volume last year amounted to CZK 1.2 billion. It has significantly increased the number of Z-Boxes to 6,200. In the autumn, it launched a second robotic depot in Rudna, so every second shipment is now sorted robotically. Packeta can process up to 1.5 million shipments a day. More than 2,000 people work for the group, including temporary workers and freelancers.
Source: HN and CTK
