Polish meat firm eyes takeover of local producer

The forthcoming transaction will mark another acquisition by Gobarto after the deals to take over local pig breeder PPH Ferma-Pol from the Polish Treasury, and two other industry players, meat cutting specialist Meat-Pack​ and meat distributor Bekpol.

In a filing to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Gobarto said it had concluded “the negotiations related to purchasing a 100% stake in… Jama sp. z o. o. in Wałbrzych​”. Set up in 1996, Jama is owned by local businessman Marek Piotr Piekaj, who also serves as president of the company’s management board.

New distribution capacities​

Jama said it owns three distribution centres in Wałbrzych, Nysa and Kamienna Góra, all three located in Poland’s south-western region, meaning it is “capable of supplying products on a daily basis to several hundred stores not only in the regions of Lower Silesia and Opolskie, but also in the Czech Republic​”.

Meanwhile, senior company representatives said that Gobarto was planning to develop a network of distribution centres in the coming years.

“We want to cover Poland [with our distribution centres] to optimise the costs of logistics, the costs of storage, and present a unified offer to our customers as a countrywide distributor,​” Dariusz Formela, president of Gobarto’s board, told local news agency PAP.

In addition to this, “the year 2018 will be the year when investments in farms could be implemented​” by Gobarto, according to the company’s president.

Gobarto claimed it is the largest player in the Polish red meat slaughtering and packaging industry. The company distributes pork, beef, and game meat, and said it controls 25% of the country’s game meat market.

Among its other assets, Gobarto owns a slaughterhouse in Grąbkowo, in Poland’s western Wielkopolska region, and a meat processing plant in Ciechanowiec, in the country’s north-eastern region. Last year, Gobarto leased the facility in Ciechanowiec to Cedrob, owner of an 82.98% stake in Gobarto.

Net profit on the rise​

Gobarto said that, last year, the company managed to raise its net profit to PLN24.7m (€5.84m), an increase of 64.1% compared with 2015. Gobarto reported revenues of some PLN1.45bn (€344m) for 2016, down 1.1% compared with a year earlier. Of these, about PLN180.7m (€42.75m) was generated by export sales, representing close to 12.5% of its total revenues, according to data released by the meat industry player.

Gobarto previously operated as PKM Duda SA​ and officially changed its name in October 2016. The group comprises about 30 subsidiaries located in Poland, Germany and Ukraine, and has been listed on the WSE since 2002. In addition to the domestic market, Gobarto said it exports its output to a number of countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.