Austria's top economic news - April 1

Vaccine developer Intercell AG said it has agreed with partner Novartis to advance its investigational Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine into a confirmatory clinical efficacy trial in ventilated ICU (Intensive Care Unit) patients.
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BWT raised its 2010 sales by 15% to EUR 460.7m. EBIT went up 17.4% to EUR 31.5m. Net profit fell slightly to EUR 22.8m from EUR 23.1m. The company projects a net profit of EUR 18m for 2011 due to planned investments in Austria and Germany.
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Austria's unemployment rate continued to fall in March for a 13th month in a row. The number of unemployed stood at 252,587, down 5.2%. The rate came in at 4.3% under EU calculations.
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Atrium European Real Estate Limited announced a repurchasing offer for bonds worth EUR 35m and with a coupon of 6.8%, which expire in 2011.
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The Wifo and IHS economic research institutes have raised their outlook for the country's GDP development. Now they project 2.5% (Wifo) and 2.3% (IHS) real increase for 2011 and 2% (Wifo) and 2.1% (IHS) for 2012. A slight recovery in the labour market is expected. A strong increase inflation rate is forecast due to the high oil prices.
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Austria's construction sector reported an order backlog of EUR 6bn at the end of December 2010, up 0.3% year-on-year, Statistik Austria said. Orders in civil engineering fell 5.4% to EUR2.8bn.
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Austria's construction sector booked an output of EUR 14.3bn for 2010, down 4.7% in annual terms, Statistik Austria said. Output fell 2% in building construction and 8.4% in civil engineering.
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The turnover in Austria's industrial and construction sectors totalled EUR 21.8bn for December 2010, up 15.8%, the country's statistical office said.