The Fruko-Schulz liqueur is changing owners due to the war, the Russian owners are ending

Last year, the liquor store ended up with a loss of CZK 1.2 million after taxation. A year earlier, it had a net profit of 1.3 million. Revenues from the sale of products, services and goods rose by 13 percent year-on-year to 264.8 million. A profit awaits this year. In March 2024, Ibalgin will stop producing gin, due to a lawsuit with the pharmaceutical company Sanofi, according to the annual report.

“The participation of Russian shareholders is no longer desirable, because customers and banks are turning their backs on us. That’s why they (Russian owners) are selling their shares,” said Nejedlý. Ladoga now holds 90 percent of the shares through the company Furato, Nejedlý has a ten percent share.

The new owner of the liqueur will be a Czech company, Nejedlý did not say which one. Russia has so far been the company’s largest foreign customer, the market there accounted for almost 65 percent of the company’s exports last year. The company continues to export to Russia with approximately 80 employees. Ladoga became the majority owner of the liquor company in 2013.

Nejedlý described last year as a turning point, mainly because of the war in Ukraine, which caused problems for the company. Anti-Russian sanctions also hit her. “Some partners have made it clear that they no longer want to do business with our company. They terminated the contracts and stopped taking goods from us,” said the director.

The e-shops Mall.cz and Alza.cz ended their cooperation, but also large customers such as the Ahold chain or the Lagardere company. The financing bank, Moneta Money Bank, with which she had been a liquor store for 25 years, also ended the cooperation. He is a new client of Fio banka. The Globus chain ended the cooperation at the beginning of the year last year, but later renewed it. The Coop chain of stores remained an important domestic customer.

The ban on importing goods from Russia caused further problems. The end of the import of tsar’s vodka brought a “noticeable” decrease in turnover and profit. The liqueur had a representative of the Ladoga company for the sale of its spirits in the EU. It partially made up for the outage by selling Ukrainian vodka Hlibna dar, the liquor company donates the proceeds to charity. The company does a lot of business with Ukraine. It represents the Ukrainian company Bayadera on the domestic market. The company also had to find new suppliers. It imported bottles, labels, cartons and raw materials from Russia. It also expanded its production to include Barrister gin.

Tuzemak is the most sold of all the liqueur’s products. The company is the second largest producer of domestic rum in the Czech Republic after Božkov. Last year, it sold over two million liters.

The liqueur continues the tradition of the Moritz Schulz company, which has been producing fruit and dessert wines in the city since 1898. After nationalization in 1948, the company fell under the Jihočeská Fruta group. In 1993, the Fruko-Schulz company was established.