Austria's top economic news - February 4

The takeover of Petrol Ofisi at the end of 2010 has burdened the fourth-quarter financial result of OMV by around EUR 170m in one-off costs, due to changes to the IFRS accounting standards. The EBIT result was hit by EUR 30m in net one-off costs for restructuring, OMV said in its latest trading statement. OMV's total production stood at 320,000 boe/day in the last quarter of 2010, up from 316,000 in the previous quarter.
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OMV said it has agreed to sell 89% in heating oil subsidiary OMV Wärme VertriebsgmbH to a consortium led by RWA Raiffeisen Ware Austria, part of German Baywa. No financial details were given.
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Bank Austria raised the volume of credits to small- and medium-sized companies in 2010 by 78% to EUR 47.6m. The number of contracts grew by 85%.
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Austria's imports stood at EUR 103.43bn between January and November 2010, up 15.8% year-on-year, Statistik Austria said. Exports also rose 15.8% to EUR 99.87bn, resulting into a trade deficit of EUR 3.56bn.