The company’s restructuring will involve savings on administrative costs of EUR 2.5 million a year. Another EUR 2 to 3 million can be achieved by targeting more effective destinations, such as countries of Central and Southeast Europe. At present Unipetrol Trade exports petrochemical products mainly to surrounding countries and can offer lower prices thanks to reduced transport costs. It has branches in Germany and Switzerland and an office in Hungary.
Restructuring has simplified and integrated activities within the framework of Unipetrol. The introduction of new business models also allows for better coordination with the majority owner of the group, the PKN Orlen concern.
“Simplification of the organisational structure will be a benefit of restructuring, which will allow us to concentrate on strategic markets and key customers,” says Vladimír Machek, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Unipetrol Trade. “The development of modern forms of communication means it is not longer necessary to have your own branch in every country,” he added.
Restructuring of the Unipetrol Trade group took place in two phases. The first wave, which began in 2003, saw branches in the USA, Singapore and Scandinavia closed. The second wave involved the transformation of subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Ukraine, Slovenia and a branch office in Russia. The original three branches in Germany were also merged to form one company named Unipetrol Deutschland. The second phase was completed with the merger of Unipetrol France and Unipetrol Trade. This was the first ever cross-border merger with the successor company in the Czech Republic and was made possible by the new Act 125/2008 Coll. on the transformation of companies and cooperatives, which came into effect last July.
UNIPETROL TRADE, a.s. is concerned with the export and sales support mainly of petrochemical products of the UNIPETROL group on foreign markets. It has branches in Germany, Switzerland and a branch office in Hungary.
UNIPETROL, a.s. controls companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 UNIPETROL joined the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil refiner in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is mainly involved in the refinement of oil, the distribution of fuels and petrochemical production. In all of these spheres the UNIPETROL is an important player in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The group is one of the most important companies in the Czech Republic in terms of turnover and employs approximately 4,500.
Contact:
Blanka Růžičková
Spokesperson
UNIPETROL, a. s.
Telephone: +420 225 001 407, +420 731 881 111
E-mail: blanka.ruzickova@unipetrol.cz