Austria's top economic news - March 30

Regional utility EVN said it has reached a court settlement on its dispute in Macedonia. The company was asked to pay EUR 96m plus interest rates due to unpaid electricity bills of fomer ESM, which EVN bought in 2006. EVN and state-owned ELEM have now agreed to divide the income of the future collection of past receiveables by 50:50.

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Moody's reduced its ratings on the long-term senior debts and deposits of Erste Group to A1 from Aa3. The ratings outlook was improved to "stable" from "negative".
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Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) decided to withdraw from the Russian market with the sale of its minority stakes in MSK-Life, SG MSK and SoVita. The deals are expected to close at the end of May. No financial details were given.
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Real estate company Immofinanz said its net profit rose to EUR 229.3m for the first three quarters of fiscal 2010/11 from EUR 221.1m a year earlier. Rental income grew 5.6% to EUR 423.1m despite divestments. The EBIT rose 39.2% to EUR 343.3m. The company said it envisages a dividend of EUR 0.1 for the year.  Immofinanz expects a considerably higher profit for the last quarter of the year.
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Erste Bank, part of Erste Group, said it plans to merge with Weinviertler Sparkasse in September 2011. To this end the bank will buy out the shares of the local private foundation in the regional savings bank. Currently Erste Bank owns 99.49% in Weinviertler Sparkasse.