Austrian economic news in a flash - 15 December 2010

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The 14-hour session of the supervisory board of Vienna Airport ended with the dismissal of company's CEO Herbert Kaufmann as of the end of December. His post will be taken temporarily by supervisory board head Christoph Herbst. The mandates of Ernest Gabmann and Gerhard Schmid, the other two executives of the airport, will be ended prematurely on December 31, 2011. They, however, may be re-elected in the next year. The decisions were taken in view of the Skylink terminal expansion project, whose costs almost doubled to above EUR 800m over a very short time and caused for a lot of heated discussions in the Alpine republic.
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Office furniture maker Bene said its sales decreased 10.9% to EUR 120.3m in the first nine months of fiscal 2010/11, while the loss before interest and tax stood at EUR 8.7m, down from EUR 8.8m a year earlier. Despite the slow market recovery, the management predicts a negative operating loss for full 2010/11.
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The Bank Austria economic indicator stood at 4.2 points in November, its highest level since September 2007. The mood among the industry slightly improved, while that of the consumers was slightly down, the economists said. The sentiment of the Austrian production sector is for the first time in 18 months better than the EU average.
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Peter Kotauczek, CEO of Beko, Elisabeth Kotauczek and the private foundation of the Kotauczek will take 74.67% in Beko Holding, Austria's anti-trust authorities said. However, Cross Informatik GmbH, which has stakes in All for One Midmarket AG, Brain Force Holding AG and Triplan AG will be spun off from Beko before the deal.
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The sawmill of Mayr-Melnhof Holz in Switzerland will file for insolvency after all attempts for restructuring have failed. The move will affect 130 employees.
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Lighting specialist Zumtobel has signed a cooperation contract with LG Innotek, a subsidiary of LG. The collaboration will aim at transferring LED backlights for LCD screens to the field of professional lighting.
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Vaccine developer Intercell will raise its capital by EUR 855,000 in order to serve its stock option plans. The plans target employees, managers and executives at the company.
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Austria's construction cost index rose 3.4% on the year to 120.1 points in November 2010. On a monthly comparison, the index remained the same, Statistik Austria said.