"It’s important to know what you want to be the best at," says Adam Šotek, head of CE Industries

CE Industries is already heading towards eleven billion. As well as being Europe’s third-largest railcar manufacturer, the company has provided financial support to two operations at the bankrupt Liberty Ostrava steelworks.

Twenty companies, three thousand people. Adam Šotek has been at the helm of the CE Industries industrial holding for five years. A manager with experience in major restructuring and crisis management, he has built his career at M.L. Moran and ZKL, and says of his “boss” Jaroslav Strnad, he says he values his advice, his approach to business, but also the fact that he gives managers the space to fulfil their potential.

How do you assess the situation at Liberty Ostrava now?

It’s a huge behemoth that stood still for a full ten months. Fortunately, 1,350 employees remained at plants 15 and 16, which we are financing. But what pleasantly surprised me about the whole thing was that, technologically speaking, both plants were in good condition and our colleagues at Liberty managed to get production up and running again quickly without any major problems.

This isn’t the first time you’ve used the same model. Does it work well?

This is already our third tolling project. There is one peculiarity here, however, in that Liberty Ostrava did not have a functioning sales team, so sales are actively managed by people from our company, Vítkovice Machinery Trade. The levelling mill does not have many competitors in Europe, and we believe that by spring it could already be at a turning point.

Which division of CE Industries is the strongest?

I’m most proud of the rail division. In terms of EBITDA, it will generate around 406 million crowns in 2024, followed by the Opportunities division, with waste recycling coming third. Total revenue will reach around eleven billion, with projected EBITDA of 857 million crowns.

What have you personally had to learn over the past five years?

That it’s important to know the answer to the question of what you want to be best at. How to structure the holding company so that it runs smoothly. How to finance distressed projects when you’re working on several at once.