Austria's top economic news - March 23

Real estate company conwert Immobilien Invest SE said its net profit grew 8% to EUR 25.7m in 2010. The company will propose a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share for the year. conwert plans to continue with its strategic refocusing and internal structural optimisation in 2011.
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Online bookmaker bwin, which is to merge with UK PartyGaming as of March 31, said its pro forma consolidated net profit fell to EUR 13.9m in 2010 from EUR 46.3m in 2009. The gross gaming income grew to EUR 514.6m from EUR 446.6m.

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Bank Austria's 2010 results were burdened by write-downs of EUR 360m due to its Kazakhstan subsidiary ATF. Thus the net profit of Bank Austria, which is responsible for the eastern activities of parent UniCredit, decreased 32% to EUR 747m. Excluding the one-off effects, the bank's pre-tax profit would have increased by 13%.

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Regional utility EVN plans to start the construction of a gas network in the region around Zadar in Croatia in April. The company is to provide gas to above 20,000 households by 2013. The investment volume is estimated at EUR 25m.
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Österreichischen Volksbanken-AG (ÖVAG) said it will bundle its real estate activities in a new company, under the name of VB Real Estate Services. The new entity will be responsible for financing, project development, leasing and asset services.

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The number of overnight stays in Austria stood at 42.59m between November and February, down 2.1% year-on-year, Statistik Austria said. In February the number of stays fell 7.1% in annual terms due to different winter holiday dates in many countries.