Steady growth

Vitantrade is a wholesale company established in 1991. It is currently run by Ana Matjasic, who took over the reins from her grandfather, company founder Ladislav Siket, three years ago. He started out as a small animal breeder, supplying pet shops with animals and food.
The company's first products came from Interquell, the head of which, Georg Müller, is regarded as having paved the way for the launch of Vitantrade. Other brands in the wholesaler's portfolio include Allco, Gimborn, Versele Laga, Savic, Quiko and Sera, the latter exclusively for the Slovenian market.
Since 1 December 2015, the products of German company Trixie have been added to the range, likewise exclusively for the Slovenian market. Ana Matjasic spoke to PET worldwide of her plans and discussions with suppliers back in the summer of 2015. "We have now rounded off our portfolio with Trixie," she said in an interview with PET worldwide at Interzoo.

The pet store chain Premium-Pet, which was established in 2008, belongs to the company. It recently acquired two stores in Koper und Novo Mesto as a result of the insolvency of rival chain Tukano, bringing the number of Premium-Pet stores to six.The two new stores, each with a 250 m² retail area, are also located in Mercator shopping centres and thus fit perfectly into the retail concept. Ana Matjasic has further expansion of the chain in her sights. However, she is sticking to the basic principle of not entering into competition with any existing clients of the Vitantrade wholesale business.

Vitantrade's expansion in recent months has primarily been made possible by the arrival of two new shareholders in October 2015. 40 per cent of the shares in the company are now held by Solcel, a supplier specialising in solar technology and based in Ruse, not far from Vitantrade's headquarters in Hocé. This also brought a new CFO to the company in the form of Aljaz Gorsek. A further 20 per cent of the company's shares were acquired by Interquell in Germany, with the other 40 per cent remaining in the ownership of the founding family. Of this, 28.4 per cent are held by Ana Matjasic and 11.6 per cent by Ladislav Siket.