Austrian Economic News - Week 16 -22 Jul

Monday

Austria's annual inflation rate stood at 2.2% in June 2012, compared with 2.3% in April and 2.1% in May. Prices were boosted by the "home, water and energy" and "food" categories. The harmonised euro-zone index came in at 2.2%.
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Duropack, a subsidiary of Constantia Packaging, plans a squeeze-out at its Croatian unit Belisce. Duropack owns currently 95.73% in Belisce.

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The Strauss group has raised its share of the voting rights in Austrian builder Porr to 43.94% from 6.01% with the buy of the shares of B&C and UniCredit Bank Austria in it. The move has to be approved by the takeover commission.

Tuesday

Austrian toll system specialist Kapsch TrafficCom said its sales grew 45% to EUR 550m in fiscal 2011/12. Net profit, however, went down 3% to EUR 27.5m due to delay in projects. The company is in principle optimistic for the current fiscal year.

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Moody's has kept the credit rating of Bank Austria at A3 despite the reduction of the rating for its parent, Italian UniCredit.

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Stephan Koren, who will become CEO of troubled OeVAG as of September, said that the bank needs substantial restructuring but can be saved. Koren's mandate will run for five years.

Wednesday

Russian investor Oleg Deripaska has repurchased further 0.6% of his former stake in Austrian construction group Strabag. Now Deripaska owns a total of 17.6% in Strabag. The investor had to abandon his shares, bought via borrowed capital, during the financial crisis but secured then a repurchasing right.

Thursday

update software AG reported on Thursday an EBIT-loss of EUR 0.3m for the second quarter of 2012, compared with EUR 0.3m in profit a year earlier. Revenues edged up 4% to EUR 8.4m. The company attributed the EBIT-loss to the growth in employees number and investments in product portfolio. For full 2012 update predicts revenues of EUR 36m and a break-even operating profit.

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Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG plans to raise up to EUR 15m via a bond issue. The interest rate will stand at 7.75%. The proceeds will be used for the growth initiatives of the pharmaceuticals developer.

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Motorcycle producer KTM said it sold a record-high of 50,233 motorcycles in the first half of the year - growth of 36% in annual terms. Thus the firm reached for the first time a share of 7% on the European market.

Friday

Oil and gas group OMV said its production grew to 305,000 boe per day in the second quarter of the year from 275,000 boe a year earlier and 299,000 boe in the first quarter. The growth was due to the return of the production in Libya to normal levels. In view of oil price hedging effects, the company's EBIT was burdened by EUR 35m.

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Austrian lingerie maker Wolford said its net profit decreased to EUR 1.4m in fiscal 2011/12 from EUR 5.1m a year earlier due to effects from a tax audit. Sales went up 1.3% to EUR 154.1m. The company will propose an unchanged dividend of EUR 0.40 per share.