The company Rox was founded by Ivo Krištić in 1992, who led it until last year when he handed over management to his sons Matej (35) and Kristijan (32), with whom we discussed business operations, opportunities, and plans. Matej graduated in finance in Switzerland and worked in London, while Kristijan completed his studies in management and marketing in London and worked in China. The company is engaged in the distribution and sale of consumer goods, representing well-known global brands in categories such as car cosmetics, automotive equipment, household goods, toys, food, gardening, tools, cycling, etc., and has its own distribution, i.e., logistics. The second sector consists of gas stations, of which there are six (two in Croatia, one franchise, and three in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and this year they started building a business hotel, thus definitely embarking on the development of a new business segment – hospitality.
Interestingly, Rox achieved 19.7 million euros in revenue in 2019, which increased to 30 million euros in 2020, the year of the pandemic and lockdown. The past year ended with 49.5 million euros in revenue. We spoke with Matej and Kristijan about everything, and it was interesting to hear how they reacted in some situations their company faced, as well as other companies in the market, such as the corona crisis, but also the freezing of fuel prices, which is decided by the government. During the pandemic and lockdown, their father was at the helm of the company, but they were already involved in all business processes, and their business decision, made in consultation with their father after Prime Minister Andrej Plenković‘s government froze fuel prices, could otherwise be interesting for entrepreneurs.
However, when it comes to assessing that government decision, the Krištić brothers did not want to answer that question. Nor did they want to comment on whether the price freeze is lasting too long, which many entrepreneurs and economic analysts believe. But that is their right. The management model they will apply when they build the business hotel is also interesting, about which they already have everything agreed with the French hotel chain Novotel. Over the past five years, Rox has had significant revenue jumps, made some strategic decisions, and we discussed this, as well as other topics, with the Krištić brothers.
The crisis years have passed, and you have managed to do well in business. What is the secret?
Kristijan: – We have grown in all segments. For example, in 2019, we completed the reconstruction of the gas station on Zagreb’s Slavonska Avenue and started generating revenue from it. Part of the growth was achieved by our gas stations, but we also grew in our core business – the distribution and sale of consumer goods. However, a significant portion of the revenue growth was due to the high demand for masks at that time. Since we have a large number of suppliers from China, we brought masks by plane to distribute them as quickly as possible across Croatia. In fact, we were among the few whose masks had a certificate. The sale of a good portion of goods stopped, and we had to compensate for the turnover. The ‘do-it-yourself’ segment also grew significantly at that time when people stayed at home.
