History

Metalka's roots go back to 19th century. Technical trade on Metalka's current location has more than century-old tradition. In 1878 the Carl Kauschegg company was established as the first predecessor of Metalka. In 1899 the acclaimed Schneider company was established which operated on this location until 1947. The Schneider was the largest and most renowned shop with hardware, construction material, craft and agricultural machines in Ljubljana. It was the epitome of technical stores with high reputation among residents of Ljubljana.

Based on the Schneider company the next predecessor of Metalka, the Železnina trading company was established by the Government on March 4, 1949. After intensive development into a modern trade company it was renamed Metalka in 1956.

Metalka was initially a hardware wholesaler. In 1956 it expanded into retail. A year later it started importing non-ferrous metallurgy and acquired the Gradbeni material (construction material) company. In 1959 Metalka acquired the company Tehnometal and three years later companies Železo and Oprema. 1962 was an important year as Metalka started with construction of the commercial building Metalka which later became one of Ljubljana's sights. With its completion the town of Ljubljana got an arhitecturally interesting and modern facility with the hight of 60 meters that characterizes the image of the city center and the panorama of Ljubljana.

In the following years Metalka expanded its business and became one of the most important companies in former Yugoslavia where it opened its representative offices and shops in all important cities. Metalka also opened its branches abroad, most of them in by Europe and also in USA with its affiliated company in Chicago. Metalka also took part in the construction of nuclear plant, imported electric trains from Poland, exported train wagons and implemented various strategic businesses for development of the economy as a whole. An important milestone in company development was also builing the Metalka department store in Ljubljana. Upon its opening in 1973 this was the largest technical shop in the entire Yugoslavia.

In 1989 the single company Metalka with over 2000 employees split into five independent companies (legal successors): Trgovina, Commerce, Zastopstva, Računalniški inženiring and Metalka Trading. The Metalka Trgovina company was the largest among them by business volume and by number of employees. The Metalka Trgovina company which represented the retail part of former company, began its independent development and soon expanded its activities also to wholesale and representation of foreign producers in Slovenia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Metalka Trgovina lost most of the markets of former Yugoslavia.

Metalka Trgovina was Registryed as a public limited company (PLC) after the process of ownership transformation in 1997. Along with the change of ownership in 2001 Metalka Trgovina entered a new era with new management board and strategy which involved restructuring of its activities.

In 2010 Metalka Trgovina was transformed from public limited company (PLC) into a limited liability company (LLC) after successfully published takeover bid from the company Facig Handelsgesellshaft Wien that acquired 100 % ownership. Besides technical trade the company Metalka Trgovina d.o.o. today deals with managing its financial investments, its real estate and other investment projects.