Austrian economic news in a flash - 29 October 2010

Top News
Erste Group said its net profit rose 2.3% to EUR 736.8m in the first nine months of 2010, surpassing analysts' projections. Credit risk provisions grew 9.6% to EUR 1.59bn. According to CEO Andreas Treichl, the operating profit in the third-quarter was the best third-quarter operating result in the bank's history. 
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Top News
Henning Jensen, the newly-appointed CEO of refractory material specialist RHI AG, said the company plans to double its profit by 2015. Sales will have to go up to EUR 2bn from EUR 1.2bn currently, he told APA's news agency. RHI plans to pay dividend for 2010, for the first time in the last 10 years. The company will focus on own raw material production and improving of profitability.

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Erste Group expects to return in 2011 the EUR 1.2bn participation capital received from the state due to the financial crisis, CEO Andreas Treichl said. No capital increase for the move would be necessary, he added. The bank would be also able to achieve the Basel III targets earlier than planned, the CEO said.
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Brick maker Wienerberger said it has fully taken over its 75%-owned subsidiary Semmelrock. Wienerberger paid EUR 7m in cash as well as 1m of its own shares for the takeover.
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Hirsch Servo AG  widened its EBIT loss to EUR 5.4m in fiscal 2009/10 from EUR 5.1m a year earlier. The net loss narrowed to EUR 6.2m from EUR 10.7m. The company said it projects a turnaround in fiscal 2010/11. The executive board will be reduced to two members, the firm added.
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The winter flight plan of Austrian Airlines to Russia has received a green light from the state, spokesman Martin Hehemann told APA news agency. Since the takeover of AUA by Lufthansa, Russia has been objecting with the nationality of AUA claiming it is no longer Austrian.

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voestalpine Stahl GmbH  and Siemens VAI GmbH plan to divide their joint venture vatron gmbh, which focuses on R&D in the field of mechatronics. The transaction will be carried by the spring of 2011.
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Troubled bank OeVAG is said to be planning to sell its 51% in eastern European unit Volksbank International (VBI), Der Standard reported. The move becomes necessary after the bank's other plans for finding a strategic partner failed.
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The Austrian construction sector reported an order backlog of EUR 6.6bn at the end of July, down 7.6% on the year, Statistik Austria reported. The output of the sector for the first seven months of the year decreased 3.7% to EUR 7.4bn. Furthermore, the office reported that the industry and construction sector had sales of EUR 19.3bn in July 2010, up 7.7% in annual terms.