Frankfurt Anyone who asks Wolfram Simon-Schröter whether he still knows what he is doing in view of all his acquisitions will only get a short sentence as an answer: “The group was in the black in the first half of the year,” he says in an interview with the Handelsblatt. For the entrepreneur, this is probably the best proof that his strategy is working.
Simon-Schröter is Managing Director of the Zeitfracht Group and married to shareholder Jasmin Schröter. The core business of the family company is logistics, an important area is the supply of the book trade.
But under Simon-Schröter, the group is expanded significantly. The 41-year-old always causes surprises with his takeovers. Last year, Zeitfracht first took over the ailing fashion chain Adler, and a few months later Rostock-Laage Airport, which was also insolvent. In addition, there is now the chocolate manufacturer Leysieffer – that too is insolvent.
Restructuring companies in trouble is the specialty of the doctor of economics. One of his most recent deals is all the more surprising: Zeitfracht has acquired a “significant stake” in the American football team Frankfurt Galaxy. They were champions of the European league EFL last year and are currently fighting for a place in the play-offs.
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Not a company of the usual definition, nor a company struggling with insolvency – even by Zeitfracht standards, this commitment is one that does not fit the previous strategy. Among other things, Adler Mode had problems with logistics, a lever for the 42-year-old to get the company back on track. An airport is something that hardly any freight forwarder voluntarily hangs around their necks. But it still has a lot to do with logistics.
American football as manager training
But an American football team? “We were faced with the question of how we could make our end customer brands, which we recently had, better known,” says Simon-Schröter, explaining the entry into the sports business. For example, outdoor fans have a great affinity for American football.
And so the logos of the retail companies Speedlink, MyRacoon and the outdoor outfitter McTrek, all of which belong to Zeitfracht, can now be found on the team’s jerseys. According to Simon-Schröter, physical activity sports would be ideal for a logistics company. He is also very interested in the topic of promoting young people.
>>Read about this: What the Zeitfracht board is planning to do with Rostock Airport
And the entrepreneur is building another surprising bridge to American football. “Using the Frankfurt Galaxy as an example, we can show our managers how a diverse team with many different skills can form a successful team.”
As always, the father of three children already has a clear goal in mind for the new achievement. “We want the Frankfurt Galaxy to be the leading team in American football in Europe in four to five years, to which foreign players are also happy to switch,” he says.
While Zeitfracht still had 420 employees and a turnover of 90 million euros in 2017, it now has 6,500 employees and sales reached almost one billion euros in 2021. Word has got around that Zeitfracht is a good address for insolvent companies. Simon-Schröter keeps getting offers, most of which he rejects. He needs to see the idea behind the deal. Just buying a colorful portfolio together – he doesn’t believe in that.
The entrepreneur has specialized in taking over ailing companies.
(Photo: Marcus Reichmann)
At the fashion chain Adler, for example, he quickly recognized the logistical problems and the need to lure more people into the stores. He achieves this not only through a stronger online presence, but also through DPD counters in the branches. The company was once a co-founder of the parcel service, but sold it a few years ago.
The parcel shops in the Adler shops are going down well, says Simon-Schröter: “We will probably send around 360,000 parcels through the markets this year. Every package is also a potential new customer, even if they just want to buy a few more socks quickly.”
At the same time, Adler is leaving its own branches. “We set up an Adler shop in the first Edeka stores. This is going better than expected. We want to have 14 such shops in the shop by the end of the year,” says Simon-Schröter. In any case, he has not regretted buying Adler Mode. “After a brief dip at the beginning of the year, business is now doing very well again. Adler was in the black in the first half of the year.”
A lot of responsibility for a small team
The fact that such a broad realm can be managed with relatively small staff is also due to the fact that Simon-Schröter leaves a lot of responsibility to his management team, but takes them seriously in return. When Maren Wolters switched from Deutsche Bahn to Zeitfracht in 2019, she first started at the aviation subsidiary German Airways.
A steep career followed. The 30-year-old quickly became the managing director of the airline, and she is now also the managing director of Rostock-Laage Airport and a member of the Adler supervisory board. The manager says that she is not entirely innocent of the Galaxy deal either.
The topic of promoting young talent in sports has been on the company’s agenda for a long time. “I’ve been a big fan of American football for a long time and because of the new Zeitfracht location and the center of my life in Frankfurt, I looked to see what was possible in this environment.”
According to Zeitfracht, the range of flights to tourist destinations is well received.
(Photo: imago/Fotoagentur Nordlicht)
Your many tasks would fill you up well, but the job is fun. “The aviation business is doing very well and intensively again. We have two aircraft in continuous use for charter flights alone and are gradually increasing capacity because there is high demand,” says Wolters. And in Rostock, the range of flights to tourist destinations is well received.
However, not everyone can cope with Simon-Schröter’s demanding leadership style. Adler boss Thomas Freude and Sales Director Carmine Petraglia had to leave the company shortly after it was taken over by Zeitfracht. The entrepreneur is not exactly squeamish when it comes to his deals either. “He is not an easy negotiating partner, he knows how to achieve his goals very well,” reports a former business partner.
More: Sports stars instead of scheduled passengers: German Airways is reinventing itself.