Prefabeton Holding Inc. Kos already in 1996 successfully passed the decisive exam which qualified it for getting into finals. This was represented by a fight to keep the company position on the Czech market which was played on the background of implementation of custom measures after separation of the (Czech and Slovak) Federation. The result is encompassed in a fact that today under colors of largest Slovak producer of small-dimension silicate prefabrication belongs its 100-percent daughter company in the Czech Republic, the Prefabeton Moravia Brno.

The mission of foreign representation characterized Director General of the mother company Ing. Peter Rafay by saying that imposing duty on products according to Czech legislature enables to sell them as Czech products.

Our big and traditional purchaser Ingstav Brno which is specialized on construction of underground works in large urban agglomerations experienced problems by imposing duty on prefabricated reinforcements used in subterranean works, explains P. Rafay. This is a technology enabling to concentrate all underground lines in one common collector of diameter from two to four meters and afterwards to build all underground infrastructure without repeated break of surface communications or the existing buildings. Our company is the main supplier of reinforced concrete modules for construction of such underground constructions, representing about 10 to 12 percent of our products. By marketing orientation we met the requirements of Ingstav such way that it does not need to care about the duty since the prefabricated units are delivered straight to the construction sites which serves as a service for added value."

The total annual export of Prefabeton Holding Kos to the Czech Republic represents products of Sk18 million value and the company turnover reaches amount of Sk150 million. The dynamism of trade development with the Czech Republic is clearly demonstrated by fact that in the first year of existence of the daughter company the size of export reached Sk4.5 million and in the year after already Sk12.5 million.

Still there is another chance to obtain orders for delivery of gutters and cover-plates for České Drahy (Czech Railways) for construction of railway corridor Hodonin - Rohatec, where the competitors of Slovak interests are from the Czech Republic. The actual situation is in favor of the Czech supplier.

"We are trying to find our place on other foreign markets as well, " said P. Rafay, "first of all by our special program - floating concrete constructions, which is done in cooperation with our Austrian business partner, seeking markets in Turkey. The business in question is about construction of large scale of break-waters where such floating pontoons may be used."

This progressive solution of concrete pontoon harbor jetty our firm successfully brought out on International Construction Fair CONECO 96 and up to now it was delivered to harbors on Liptovska Mara, Slnava, Nova Bystrica and Oravska Studnicka. Others are under construction now.

The most important task when fighting competition, represented first of all by strong companies from Sweden, using such products already for long time, is a progressive solution, which was successfully tried in Slovakia. The other should be represented by deliveries in the next year. Dynamics of Prefabeton's development in the last three years shows that experiment on new markets may be as successful as its operation on the Czech market.

Rapid growth of former manufacture of Banske Stavby Prievidza, transformed in 1992 into Prefabeton, started in February 1996 after capital interconnection with SCT Kosice. Following the damp of mining production, which represented the main part of sale of productions the company found its place after large scale changes and choosing of proper marketing conception. In 1996 the production doubled and rate of trade turnover reached 100 %. Use of company capacities reached 45 % and tended to reach 60 to 80 percent.

Prefabeton Holding since 1996 belongs to most dynamic companies in field of construction materials, said P. Rafay. He stresses that in 1997 the production and sales tripled the level of 1995.

The production program consists of 100 products for railway, road and mining constructions, legging and walling blocks, paving and floating concrete systems. Flagship-product from point of view of production and trade is a locking-pavement. The company enriches its assortment by results of cooperation with foreign firms. Examples of such cooperation are Delta Block and City Block concrete crash-barriers made under license of Austrian company MABA Betonfertigteile GmbH.