Petr Paksi rejects buyout offers: why JAP Future is not for sale

Petr Paksi, founder of the Czech company JAP Future, received three offers to buy his business, all worth upper hundreds of millions of crowns, and accepted none. Two of the three offers came from abroad, but the entrepreneur is convinced the firm has more opportunities ahead of it than behind it.

“I can’t shake the feeling that more chances lie ahead of us than behind us,” says Paksi. He admits that such sums make you think: the years of work, the risks and the decisions made blind come to mind, and then someone expresses all that effort as a single number. But it is not that he does not value money or considers selling a defeat, the businessman stresses.

The future instead of just numbers

In Paksi’s view, investors look first at results: margin, growth rate, risks. He is convinced that a company’s real value is broader. Financial indicators describe what a firm has already achieved and do not reflect everything that is still in the making. EBITDA, he says, is an important measure of operating efficiency, but not the full picture.

In JAP Future he sees what is so far only partly reflected in the accounts: years of developing new systems, investment in automation, new materials and technologies, future products, the experience of employees, and ties with architects, partners and clients. For him, all of this is potential that does not necessarily turn into profit right away, but he refuses to judge the company’s future solely by past earnings.

From Přerov to 58 countries

Today JAP Future from Přerov is a family-run manufacturer with about 200 employees, a turnover of around 325 million crowns and sales in 58 countries. The company designs and produces technically and aesthetically demanding interior systems: from doors and concealed frames to sliding solutions, luxury walk-in wardrobes, libraries and architectural cladding.

“It was never important for us to be the cheapest,” Paksi stresses. “We want to make products that can stand comparison with the best design in the world.” He sees one of the firm’s main assets in its ability to keep creating something new: behind its innovations are in-house developments and 61 registrations with the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

His son also works in the business, reportedly handling the company’s expansion abroad. Paksi himself has been named Marketer of the Year, Manager of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year in the Olomouc Region, but says he never wanted success to turn into complacency: yesterday’s success does not guarantee tomorrow’s, and without innovation competitors will sooner or later catch up.

By the Around Prague newsroom