As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 6th of October, 2020, the Omco Group is a leading European company which is also one of the world’s largest companies engaged in the production of tools for the production of glass packaging. In recent weeks, it successfully completed negotiations on the acquisition of its rival US company Ross International, and will take over its plants in Hungary and South Africa.
Darko Ranogajec, the director of Omca Croatia, which covers 50% of the parent group’s production, explained that they are now in the takeover phase, which will end in mid-October, followed by the continuation of operations under their full control. The Omco Group has so far covered more than 20 percent of the world’s needs.
”By taking over the company, we’re increasing our capacities and expanding our presence on the African continent. This will increase our capacity by approximately 20%. Our goal was to expand onto a market that we would have a hard time conquering without taking over that company. Consolidation is also necessary so that we can deal with Chinese competition on an equal footing on the global market,” said Ranogajec, adding that they are currently focusing on technological improvements in production in Hungary and South Africa, with the aim of integrating the two companies and exploiting synergies.
The benefits of the acquisition in which we take over the plants in Hungary and South Africa are important due to the pandemic that caused the market disruption. The takeover of the two group factories leads to a total of 2,200 employees in nine factories in eight countries.
”Our policy will be guided by large investments in technology and equipment, with the intention of stabilising the number of people with different approaches in different countries in line with the respective markets and the performance of individual factories. Our advantage now is that we have the ability to relocate production in our current locations flexibly and quickly, and we’ll now expand that opportunity even further,” said the director, who believes the benefits of the acquisition are important due to the ongoing global pandemic.
“Thanks to that and high competitiveness, we went through the crisis well and we expect a good business year. We’re preparing for challenging future times, we believe that the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis will continue next year and we have adjusted our plans, as well as this acquisition as part of that plan,” concludes director Darko Ranogajec.
The Omco Group was recently awarded in the category of the best exporter to Belgium in 2019 with the Golden Key award, given by the Croatian Exporters Association. Today’s Omco Croatia is the former Straza-Alatnica, which has been part of the system of the Omco Group from Belgium since 1997.
The Omco Group was nominated in three more categories – for the best exporter to the USA, the Russian Federation and Turkey. The Hum-based company employs about 750 people and exports about 98% of its products to all continents, and a large part is the supply of its own foundries within the group.
Two years ago, they recorded a profit of more than 43 million kuna, and last year they increased it by as much as 50%. Back in March, at the beginning of the lockdown, Ranogajec revealed that with strong foundations and a good market position, they were preparing investments worth around 40 million kuna this year, which were put aside by the coronavirus crisis.
The future of the company is tied to the future of the global glass industry, and the Omco Group is the largest factory of this type of production in the world, but they managed to survive in the middle of the previous lockdown, and even increase deliveries.
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