Jiří Hlavatý’s Juta reports record breaking profits for 2020 despite the pandemic. Thanks to favorable material prices and the koruna’s exchange rate, it was able to double it year-on-year, said Marie Čermáková, the economic director. This year, however, the company based in the Hradec Králové Region is facing a shortage of employees and rising prices for energy and materials.
Last year, Juta reported sales of 7.8 billion crowns, about 150 million more than in the previous year. It increased its turnover by a single percentage point, but achieved a billion-dollar profit, which happened for the first time in history. “We were able to maintain sales prices and obtain cheaper raw materials, ie polypropylene and polyethylene,” said Marie Čermáková, the company’s economic director.
Juta reported a pre-tax profit of 580 million crowns in 2019, which almost doubled last year. This year, they will pay over 150 million in income taxes, so after deducting them, the profit will exceed 800 million. The company’s economic results are based on the annual report.
“There were more reasons, we produced and sold more production in kilos, the investments of previous years showed and, of course, it helped us that Asian countries, which were significantly affected by coronavirus, were unable to import goods into Europe. The competition has therefore decreased for a temporary period, “explains Čermáková. “As an exporter who exports 86 percent of production, any weakening of the koruna helps us significantly, which has happened,” he cites another reason.
According to the annual report, Jute should earn over eight billion crowns this year and report a profit of 845 million. This year, however, the coronation crisis may fully affect the management of Hlavatý společnost. “We expect a decline because input raw materials have doubled in price, electricity is 3.2 times more expensive, gas has even increased six times, paper has risen more than twice as much, pallets have tripled three times, we are not able to reflect this in sales prices, so profits will be lower,” said Čermáková.
Last year, the company raised the salaries of more than two thousand of its employees by 6.1 percent to an average of 33.6 thousand crowns. According to Čermáková, Juta plans to increase the salary further this year as well, mainly due to pressure from the state sector, where salaries have increased by several thousand in recent years. “In addition, there are absolutely no people,” adds Čermáková.
The owner of Juta is the businessman Jiří Hlavatý, who was a senator for the YES movement until October 2019. Juta produces textiles for construction and agriculture, artificial turf and other technical textiles. It exports over eighty percent of production to 65 countries.