The largest family businesses: Forbes ranking

Magazine Forbes lined up in its latest ranking two hundred family businesses. Among them are companies with a long tradition as well as relatively new players who entered the market only after the beginning of the new millennium.

Forbes thus maps private companies in which two or more generations of the same family or siblings and other relatives work together. He tracked key economic indicators such as sales, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and the number of employees for an average of three years.

Surprisingly, he did not include probably the most famous business clan in the Czech Republic, the heirs of Petr Kellner. The newly established Amalar holding, which includes Renata Kellner’s three daughters as well, has not yet absorbed all the family assets. Forbes therefore decided to list the holding only when it is complete.

This year’s ranking also misses some family businesses that were ranked last year. The grocery store Hruška of the Hruzík family and the engineering company Meopta Rausnitz disappeared, simply because the families decided to sell their businesses. The Hruška chain of stores was bought by the Hungarian investment fund Oriens, and the optics manufacturer Meopta was sold to the global giant Carlyle by the Rausnitzs.

Other businesses remained family-owned, but in a slightly different form. Otakar Jiránek has decided to sell a 51 percent stake in the family business Country Life, a chain of organic food and health food stores. Fermia of the Boušk family bought it from him. Country Life is thus listed as a two-family business.

16 newcomers then worked their way into the rankings. The top spot went to ComAp, which is owned by three families, Mertl, Málk and Procházek. You can view the top ten largest family businesses in this overview.

Czechoslovak Group of the Strnad family, led by its owner, defended the first place without competition Michal Strnad. The group under his leadership is expanding at a very fast pace, not only within the Czech Republic and Europe, but also to the rest of the world. The holding, for which more than ten thousand employees work, also includes, for example, the truck manufacturer Tatra Trucks from Kopřivnica.

In October of last year, the company announced the acquisition of Vista Outdoor’s ammunition division, including its four factories in the US, which includes, for example, the 200-year-old Remington brand. The deal, which is now awaiting regulatory approval, could make CSG one of the world’s leading ammunition producers. He also takes a majority stake in the Italian family company Armi Perazzi, which is a renowned manufacturer of shotguns for sports shooters and elite hunters.

The second place in the ranking was earned by the DEK group of the Kutnar family, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. It deals with the supply of building materials and services, in which it has been the Czech leader for a long time. And the company is truly family-owned, headed by the founder Vit Kutnar, who co-owns it with his ex-wife Petra. His father Zdeněk and children Adam, Adéla, Anna and Andrea are also involved in the company.

The iconic producer of carbonated drinks not only has classic mineral water under its belt, but also produces a whole range of other non-alcoholic drinks, juices and snacks. Forbes ranked the company managed by the Pasquals in third place. “When I saw the results, I knew I had to share,” said the owner of last fiscal year’s results. Alessandro Pasquale.

Holding family Materov’s it holds over 40 companies operating in engineering, construction and metallurgy. The flagship is the engineering division headed by Tawesco and its subsidiaries.

Their customers include, among others, leading European car manufacturers, manufacturers of handling and agricultural equipment, European foundries and steel mills. Together with the Czechoslovak Group, it owns a truck manufacturer Tatra Trucks. They also have a stake in the Croatian engineering company Đuro Đaković, which they co-own with the CE Industries group.

Family business Danuš Hradilova and her daughters focuses on the sale of household appliances and consumer electronics. The company has, for example, the Datart store chain, the Kasa.cz e-shop or the Eta and GoGEN brands. It is also dedicated to tourism and gastronomy, the business also includes Resort Valachy with hotels and a ski area in Velké Karlovice and Bistrotéka Valachy in Zlín.

Sokolovská uhelná mines brown coal in the Jiří quarry in Vintířov in Sokolovská, its most important customer is ČEZ. Its current face was given to it by its former owners Jaroslav Rokos and František Stepanek. After Štěpánek’s death, the company’s assets are in his family’s trust fund. A close friend of the family manages the company, which is heavily involved in the reclamation of the landscape affected by mining Pavel Tomek. The company now faces a challenge in the form of a transformation towards green energy.

Agrostroj is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery in our country. Under the leadership of the Stokláský family, Agrostroj exports the vast majority of its products. He then works mainly for global brands such as Claas or John Deere. He heads the company Lubomír Stoklásekhis daughter Monika is also involved in it.

Group of family Holečkovych it combines Česká zbrojovka and the American Colt, strong companies with a deep tradition. It produces not only in the Czech Republic and the USA, but also in Canada and Sweden. At the end of the year, it expanded its portfolio to include the Czech ammunition manufacturer Sellier & Bellot, whose owner will acquire a 27 percent stake in Colt after the deal is completed.

The largest producer of vinyl records in the world comes from Loděnice u Beroun and is owned by a family Pelc’s. In its eight factories in Europe and North America, it produces tens of millions of boards annually.

From small foods František Piškanin is today a large logistics holding that also focuses on agriculture and the food industry. It includes, among others, Filip Sajler’s Perfect Canteen chain, Hollandia yogurt brand and Farma Otročín. The holding company is successfully run by the brothers David and Martin.

Forbes named SCS Software of the brothers Petr and Pavel Šebor and their partner Martin Český as the most profitable company, the company was ranked 88th. Today, thanks to the 20 million sold copies of their game Euro Truck Simulator, it reaches a three-year average of sales of 934 million and an EBITDA of 820 million.