Pavel Drobil was born in the Moravian and Silesian Region and he has worked as a lawyer, a Minister of the Environment and currently, he is a co-owner and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANACOT CAPITAL, which is an investment group including innovative industrial companies in Moravia. He participates in the group management and speaks professionally on exports and the entry to the Euro area.
You are an investment group running industrial fi rms with a high added value. What are the ideal conditions for managing such companies and what are your predictions for the development of the economy at the micro level?
Exchange rate and commodity stability and predictability are the ideal conditions for the management and also for the development of our companies. Unfortunately, none of these were in place last year. The Czech Crown, as a completely outdated currency for our economy, went from one extreme to the other (especially in the first quarter of the year) and also the price of oil – a crucial commodity for us- was like a madhouse. However, we have managed to deal with everything, to increase the turnover, profit and EBITDA, and contrary to our expectations, we have experienced the best year in the history of the group. Nevertheless, it was mainly due to the previously set processes of the Group’s policies, such as uniform purchase of raw materials, services and energy, the coordination of trade of individual firms, creation of synergy within the group, business opportunities and primarily thanks to the change in thinking because our managers finally understood the fact that they represent the whole group (not only individual companies), that they are not trade unionists.
It is difficult to predict our future now, when it is not possible to predict the steps of our government for the next few hours, let alone months, or rather, it is crystal ball divination, and this is not what I do. I only predict that globalisation will not come to an end, as was predicted by some politicians and commentators after the outbreak of the pandemic on a global scale.
You expanded your group through acquisitions last year. Do you have any further investment desires or are you going to focus on stabilisation?
Both. But obviously, I cannot discuss acquisitions which are under negotiation now. I can only say that we are staying in industry and (maybe) we might leave the borders of Moravia and the Czech Republic.
„Exchange rate and commodity stability and predictability are the ideal conditions for the management and also for the development of our companies.”
A large part of your production is exported. How do you rate the stability of the Czech Crown and potential entry to the Euro area?
I have mentioned it partly in my response to the first question. In the long-term, I have seen the Crown exchange rate policy of the Czech National Bank, and now obviously also the entailed instability and unpredictability of the Crown exchange rate, as a barrier slowing down the process of our country’s development. I definitely am in favour of joining the Eurozone, I mean introduction of the Euro. I wish it had happened yesterday.
As far as I know, you are a fan of innovations and you bet on cooperation with universities. Are you successful at implementing innovative projects and are you ready to cooperate in the field of production?
We co-operate with the Technical University of Ostrava and we see innovations as the added value to the work of our companies. For example, together with the Technical University of Ostrava, we have been involved in a project for a global confectionery manufacturer etc. These are solutions moving us from the position of the producer of semi products to the production and assembly of final products.
Cooperation itself, if you mean cooperation with other companies, represents a slightly different problem for us because our business is so called certified business which means that we can cooperate only with the entities certified by our clients.
Thank you for the interview.
