DECOLED – THE YEAR 2023
Background material for an interview for Forbes, November 2023.
Expansion
We have won further shopping centres, towns and so on in tenders: about 60 shopping centres + 250–300 municipal decorations; we are installing the Old Town markets and Wenceslas Square once again.
We have expanded our light parks – Zámecké valy Pardubice (Pardubice Castle Ramparts), Dolní Vítkovice Ostrava, Výstaviště Budějovice (České Budějovice Exhibition Grounds), Loučeň Chateau, Ratměřice Chateau, Prague Žluté lázně (the Yellow Baths), Bratislava Petržalka, Chemnitz
DECOLED has 5 branches: Slovakia, Germany, France, Hungary, Romania
We install practically all over Europe
We have a new installation in Ireland, and probably in Slovenia too
Technological changes – the purchase of a 3D printer and a robotic head – printing 2D motifs from recyclable plastic, without subsidies or help from the state
Economics
Because of the seasonal nature of the work, our financial year falls in the middle of the calendar year.
Turnover is growing by about 30 %; in 2023 it was about 120 million, the plan is 150 million, EBITDA as expected 15–25 %
A new trend – a prevailing tendency towards rental, new storage needs and so on
The nature of the work – design, production, installation, storage, operator of the parks, e-shop – brings about corresponding changes in the individual entities
Intentions, vision
We initiated the concept of light exhibitions, and we would like to enrich it with a story of its own to tell or to develop. We strive to bring the industrial product closer to the artistic work, while pursuing further possibilities offered by technological development.
We are active in public space. I have begun recording podcasts, V dobrém světle // Eva Poláčková (In a Good Light), on specialist topics – that is, we are making the subject matter accessible in a missing segment. Between the expert and the lay public, we strive to make specialist topics accessible – electromobility, photovoltaics, renewable sources, astronomy, safety and so on.
Despite all the consequences of the previous unfavourable years, we are expanding and growing on every level. Unfortunately, our investment plans are being thwarted by protracted building proceedings at the sites of our industrial premises. The need to make up the deficit between the growth of all costs and contracted commissions, or clients who economically do not accept this increase, was not much reflected by the banking sector.
As a small family company, we do not feel the support of the state; on the contrary, because of the steps taken by the Czech National Bank we are at a disadvantage abroad, and we did not obtain subsidies for the purchase of 3D printers either, as our competing suppliers abroad did.
Demand for our services, and indeed our ideas, is growing, in the Czech Republic and abroad, but the conditions for carrying them out we must secure ourselves, with great difficulty, despite the unpleasant administration and the impacts of previous years, without any help whatsoever.
We are certainly striving to fulfil our visions and to connect commercial interest with the cultivation of public space.