January the 31st, 2023 - The Croatian Orbico Group, a well known company headed by entrepreneur Branko Roglic, is set to open its biggest logistics centre yet, in Zdencina near Zagreb.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, the largest European distributor of consumer goods, the Croatian Orbico Group is continuing strongly with its development policies this year. With new investments financed primarily from the company's own funds and carried out according to the proven best model of cooperation with developers, Orbico's largest logistics and distribution centre is starting to be realised.

"With the investment of the company Orbico Hrvatska (Croatia) in Zdencina, a place situated along the Zagreb-Karlovac route, the construction of the first phase of our new logistics centre covering approximately 40,000 square metres is now beginning. We plan to move into it at the beginning of 2024," announced Roglic after the contract with the contractor was signed.

In the continuation of the project at the same location, a second phase is expected through the expansion of the centre to include another 20,000 m2. With this, the Croatian Orbico Group is sticking with the characteristic transformation processes of its business, all led by digitisation and robotisation and investments in logistics.

The new logistics centre is in the function of business optimisation through cost reduction, and the location itself was chosen based on the same assumptions of economy, productivity and the profitability of business.

Record revenues in 2022

For more than half a year, they considered several locations for a new investment, including nearby Sveta Nedelja, the home of Rimac Automobili, as well as near the Hungarian-Croatian border. In the end, the calculations showed that Zdencina in Zagreb County is ideal for a number of reasons for the new momentum of Orbico's business in Croatia.

The company already owns a number of warehouses across the country, and since a few years ago a large logistics centre in Dugopolje, as their main one in Dalmatia. With the new centre in Zdencina and further on the link with the existing one in Dugopolje, Orbico is completing a concrete solution for the biggest distribution problem in Croatia, which manifests itself in highly pronounced seasonality.

"When it comes to the distribution of goods, the main issue in Croatia is how to solve seasonality in the ratio of 1:17. This means that you need 1 tow truck for distribution in the winter, and as many as 17 in the summer, and I think this is the most difficult problem for all distributors in general. Under these conditions, you should also have optimal human resource management," explained Roglic.

The investor in the new project is Orbico Hrvatska with around 1,250 employees out of a total of 7,500, and its activities in 2022 totalled a record 520 million euros in total revenue. The entire system boasts operations in 20 European countries, all of which also enjoyed business growth, generating an impressive 3.2 billion euros in total revenue last year.

In its expansion and development on the basis of the adopted business plan in the medium-term period, i.e. on the horizon of 2028, Orbico should generate revenues of 6 billion euros, which means that it will become twice as large as it is today. Within its current framework, growth is being achieved using the leverage of modern logistics, meaning that the Croatian Orbico Group is leading the way with investments in more than 200,000 m2 of storage space and a total of five LDCs. In addition to Croatia, there are also new logistics centres in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

Around 40 million euros was pumped into this investment

For this investment, which is still in the stage of tendering for the selection of developers and contractors, it was stated that the amount involved was around 40 million euros. Roglic hasn't revealed how much the post-pandemic crisis with the additional factor of inflation affected the final amount of the investment for now, but he did make sure to clarify that the company will first work under lease in the new centre, and that after the lease expires, Orbico will take over the facility fully.

"Through the rent, we pay for the investment and realise more new projects in cooperation with developers who are building our new logistics capacities. This is the best way to develop a business, especially when it takes place in several countries. Orbico operates in 20 different European countries, and we're continuing to grow at a good pace, and I must highlight the fact that we don't take loans. After some time has passed with our lease of the new LDC in Zdencina, we will buy the logistics centre," concluded Roglic.

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November the 6th, 2021 - The Croatian Orbico Group, which is otherwise Europe's largest distributor of consumer goods with more than 8,000 employees, grew by 120 million euros during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, an increase in revenue compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, the owner of the Croatian Orbica Group, Branko Roglic, confirmed this recently, adding that this record achievement is simultaneously accompanied by integrative processes that have affected the entire system this year.

In all 20 countries in which Orbico operates, the integration of the group's components has been carried out, so that the business is run by over 20 companies on the principle of one company in each country, instead of the 47 that previously operated within Orbico.

Although the structure of sales is changing with the movements of the coronavirus pandemic, with e-commerce reigning strong and standing at around 10 percent for Orbico, trade isn't slowing down either. The growing trend of demand for all types of goods is met by the transformation of business through the processes of digitalisation and robotisation, including investments in logistics.

Over the past five or six years, the Croatian Orbico Group has practically doubled its revenue, and today, as Roglic himself points out, they're the second largest Croatian company (after Fortenova), as well as in terms of total revenues, as in 2020 they even exceeded INA by 4 billion kuna.

They ended the first pandemic year at 18.2 billion kuna (about 2.5 billion euros) in revenue, with the growth trend, which normally ranges from 5 to 10 percent per year, continuing. According to the business plan for this year, the level of total revenues is set at a record three billion euros, and Roglic says that the realisation so far confirms that the Orbico Group will fulfill their target with no issue.

"We're growing the most in the market of Romania, where the revenue is around 750 million euros, and Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and of course here in Croatia. But Orbico's recipe for success in all markets is the same - it's a move away from politics and a commitment to engaging in clean business with a focus on employee satisfaction. Politics "feeds" on the surplus value that business people create and thus reduces the possibility of the development of the company, as well as society as a whole,'' explained Roglic, adding that the generator of progress is the surplus value created by companies with their employees, preferably at the lowest cost possible.

Plans for further expansion into new markets include the market of Azerbaijan, and as far as acquisition-based growth is concerned, the plan is to take over a strong European digital e-commerce platform. Obviously, the next target for the Croatian Orbico Group is to strengthen their share of online sales, which has been flourishing during the pandemic, and Roglic has since announced the purchase of a large distribution company that has strong activities on online platforms. This is planned to be done in 2022, which would bring Orbico's share of online traffic to a mark which will exceed 20 percent.

They're also expanding their logistics capacities with constant investments, with a low indebtedness rate (1 percent EBITDA), and this year they have joined new logistics centres in Poland and Bulgaria with investments of around 25 million each kuna, with their warehouses covering areas of around 200,000 m2.

Next week, Roglic will travel to Bulgaria himself to open a new logistics centre near Sofia, with a strategic emphasis placed on the process of the automation and robotisation of the logistics services. A new logistics centre spanning 23,000 m3 has already been opened in Poland this year, which is also automated and robotised entirely.

"When it comes to our new projects, the focus will be placed on cooperation with developers who are building new logistics capacities, while through the lease, we pay for the investment and with the expiration of the contracted lease we can extend or take over the centre,'' explained Roglic.

The Croatian Orbico Group's tender for the construction of a logistics centre that will cover the needs of both Croatia and neighbouring Slovenia is underway in Zagreb, and will emerge according to the aforementioned model. It will be their fifth logistics centre and will be worth about 20 million euros in total.

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Orbico's owner Branko Roglić has become the majority owner of Interbrands, Romania's largest consumer goods distributor.

As Novac/Adriano Milovan writes on the 8th of July, 2019, as they have explained from Orbico, after having agreed with Cyprus' Holson and taken over 25 percent of Interbrand back in January, at the end of last week, on July the 4th, the second phase of the takeover of this large Romanian distributor was completed, during which Croatia's Orbico purchased an additional 35 percent of the company, thus becoming the majority owner of Interbrands.

The takeover of an additional stake in Interbrands was preceded by the approval of the competent body and the fulfillment of other sales contract terms, which were signed back in January, according to this company from Croatia's statement. In the take over of sixty percent of Interbrands, we know that Orbico had to set aside about forty million euros.

''We will restructure the company and strengthen its position on the Romanian market, which is the second largest market among the new EU members,'' Branko Roglić, the owner and chairman of the Orbico Supervisory Board stated.

Roglić pointed out that he is satisfied with taking over Interbrands, as Orbico has now become the leading distributor of consumer goods in Romania. Interbrands is one of Orbica's leading distributors of numerous global brands in Romania, including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Procter & Gamble, Coty, Danone, Duracell, Fater, Nestle and many others. The annual revenues of Interbrands amount to about 200 million euro, its EBITDA is around EUR 10 million, and according to Orbico's data, about 2,000 workers are employed there.

This company from Croatia would, in agreement with the former owner of Interbrands, take over the remaining forty percent of the company over the next three years, becoming the sole owner of the Romanian company. Until then, a minority partner will hold a minority stake of forty percent.

Orbico operates in twenty European countries, of which Poland and Romania now occupy an important place. According to the company's data, it employs some 8,000 people and earns about two billion euros in revenue. The goal of Croatia's Orbico is to become the leading distributor in Europe.

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