Austrian Economic News - Week 5-11 Dec

(the news feature is back, expect the German edition relaunched soon)

Monday

The works council of Telekom Austria warned on Monday against the recent talks for privatisation of the company. If the company launches a capital hike, the state should keep its 28% stake, the workers' representatives said. However, state holding OeIAG once again stated that there is no request for privatisation of the telecommunications provider.

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Standard & Poor's has lowered its credit watch outlook for Austria and five more eurozone countries to negative. 

Tuesday

Lighting specialist Zumtobel said it raised its turnover by 8.4% to EUR 666.8m in the first six months of fiscal 2011/12. The net profit, however, fell by 13.5% to EUR 34.3m. The company said that the economic conditions worsened considerably in the second quarter and revised down its forecasts for full 2011/12. Zumtobel now projects an increase in sales of "considerably below 10%" and a fall in the EBIT margin in annual terms.

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Oil and gas company OMV revealed its plans to withdraw from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company is reviewing currently the disposal of its gas filling stations in the countries as a move to reduce its dependence on the refinery and marketing activities.

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A spokesman of German Metro confirmed that Austrian investor Rene Benko had filed a takeover offer for its Kaufhof subsidiary. However, there are other interested parties also, the spokesman added.

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Abu Dhabi-based IPIC plans to raise its stake in OMV to at least 25%, Austria's competition authorities said. Currently the fund owns 24.9% in the oil company.

Wednesday

Austrian road toll specialist Kapsch said it had opened a branch in Romania. The company aims at an annual revenue of EUR 15m in the country by 2015.

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Austria's top utility Verbund said it plans to delist from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The move will be implemented in three months.

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Manner, Austria's renowned producer of biscuits, announced plans to invest in the expansion of its production in Vienna. The company plans to invest EUR 30m in its plant in the capital.

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Telekom Austria said in the Wednesday afternoon that the high inflation rate in Belarus will lead to additional write-downs for the fourth quarter of 2011. However, the telecommunications company said that it is keeping its 2011 targets.

Thursday

Austrian real estate investor Rene Benko rejected on Thursday reports that he, via his Signa holding, has offered EUR 2.05bn for the purchase of Kaufhof, part of  German Metro Benko's spokesman declined to reveal the real price offered by Benko. 

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The latest stress tests of the European Banking Authorities showed that Austrian major banks RZB, Erste Group and ÖVAG need EUR 3.9bn to cover the requirements for capital adequacy by mid-2012. RZB needs EUR 2.127bn, Erste EUR 742m and ÖVAG EUR 1.053bn.

Friday

Erste Group plans to cut between 400 and 450 jobs in Hungary, CEO Andreas Treichl said Friday. The bank, however, will not withdraw from the Hungarian market. Furthermore, Erste plans to fulfil the requirement of additional capital of EUR 743m without the need of state capital.

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Austria's National Bank (OeNB) has reduced its forecast for Austria's gross domestic product (GDP) to 0.7% for 2012 and to 1.6% for 2013.

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Austrian auto parts producer Miba said its sales grew 37% to EUR 429.6m in the first three quarters of fiscal 2011/12. The company's EBIT increased 22.1% to EUR 50.2m. The management projects around EUR500m in sales for full 2011/12. 

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The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation in the state aid which Austria granted to bank ÖVAG in 2009. The Commission fears that it may have violated European law. 

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Austrian Airlines (AUA) transported 843,100 passengers in November 2011, or 4.9% more than a year earlier. The passenger load factor fell 3.1 percentage points to 69.8%. Between January and November the Lufthansa subsidiary served 10.5m passengers, up 2.9% year-on-year.

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Telekom Austria's employees have won a 3.6 % price hike, or EUR 200 at the most. Payment to trainees will also be raised by 3.6%.