The new owner of the food company Fruta Podivín from the Břeclav region is the holding CE Industries, owned by the entrepreneur Jaroslav Strnad. The company will be bought from the Norwegian company Orkla Foods. The transaction must be approved by the antimonopoly authority.

Fruta Podivín is a company with a long history, operating since 1910. Since 1998 it has been part of the Hamé Group, which is still part of the multinational Norwegian company Orkla. According to its annual report for 2022, 161 employees worked at its plant in Podivín. It produces approximately 200 different products, including marmalades, jams and baby fruit food. In 2022, sales reached almost CZK 580 million, but the company ended the year with a loss of CZK 668,000. A year earlier, the company made a profit of CZK 17.6 million.

CE Industries operates in several industries, including railway engineering, energy, waste recycling, food and drugstore. Jaroslav Strnad has previously expanded his portfolio to include the Pardubice-based company Kávoviny and also owns Kauma, a health food manufacturer based in Fulnek. In 2023, CE Industries achieved sales of CZK 10 billion and employed over 2,500 people at its plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia. Jaroslav Strnad is also the founder of the Czechoslovak Group, an industrial holding company currently managed by his son Michal Strnad.