Strong growth at Sera

Last autumn Sera completed the construction of a new 1 200 m² picking hall at the company's base in Heinsberg, with the aim of organizing product shipment more efficiently. At the end of this year, a new administration building comprising offices and floor space of roughly 2 200 m² is also to be opened, while the laboratory is to be extended too. Another construction project expected to be completed this spring is the creation of an extensive pond complex, which will include a large koi breeding facility as well as ten trial pools in which the company's products will be tested.The overall site at Sera's main plant already covers 40 000 m².  Sera employs 175 staff at its head office and roughly as many people again worldwide in subsidiaries operating in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, the USA, Japan and China. The company's products are on sale in over 80 countries all over the globe. Export sales have been increasing for many years and currently account for 62 per cent of overall sales. And Sera is expanding fast in Eastern Europe and in the up-and-coming markets of southern Europe, such as Spain.The pond business is becoming increasingly important for Sera, with nearly a fifth of its sales deriving from garden pond products. Sera's product range has been expanding steadily in the last few years, and the company is benefiting from the growing number of pond owners in Europe. Josef Ravnak, founder and managing director of the company, cites Hungary, the Czech Republic and southern Russia as areas where the pond is becoming an increasingly popular hobby.Sera, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last year, has developed in just a few years from a one-man band into a leading company in the aquatics business. Josef Ravnak points to the high quality standard of the products, the large range and variety and coherent concepts that prevent any problems arising from the outset when keeping fish as a hobby as the basic factors in Sera's success. For him it is an essential requirement to make clear the connection between good nutrition and fish health. Ravnak says that "regularly feeding a fish on high-grade food improves its immune system. Its resistance levels increase and it thus becomes less susceptible to disease."A firm feature of Sera's corporate philosophy is that the company only supplies the speciality pet product trade. It supports its trading partners with attractive sales stands, subject-related display shelves…