Austrian Economic News - Week 29 Oct - 4 Nov

Monday

Refractory materials maker RHI is reportedly before the 80m euro takeover of Indian Orient Refractories, Indian Economic Times wrote on Monday. Initially RHI plans to buy 48.61% in the company. The deal is expected to be wrapped up in November, the paper added.

Securities Commission Malaysia has approved the buy of Latexx Partners Berhad by Austrian rubber specialist Semperit AG. The Austrian and German authorities are still to give their nods to the deal.
Gas Connect Austria, the gas grid operator of OMV, has sold 45% in AGGM Austrian Gas Grid Management AG to EVN Netz GmbH, OÖ. Ferngas Netz GmbH and Gasnetz Steiermark GmbH. OMV will keep a majority in AGGM.

Tuesday

Erste Group revealed on Tuesday a net profit of 597.3m euro for the first three quarters of 2012, compared with almost 1bn euro loss in the same period last year. Operating profit remained stable at 2.618bn euro and the bank expects its full-2012 result to be slightly lower than in 2011.
Crane maker Palfinger plans to take over Norwegian marine and offshore crane producer Bergen Group Dreggen AS. The buyer did not disclose the purchase price for the company with annual sales of 30m euro.
Machinery specialist Andritz bought Dutch sector player Royal GMF-Gouda for an unrevealed price. Royal GMF-Gouda employs 140 and has annual sales of 40m euro.

Wednesday

Industrial group Hirsch Servo AG said on Wednesday its net loss widened to 7.5m euro in fiscal 2011/12 from 2.59m euro a year earlier. Revenue went down 7.4% to 85.8m euro. In view of the unstable market development, the firm did not make a forecast for the current fiscal year.
Real estate developer Warimpex said it has agreed to sell its InterContinental hotel in Warsaw to DekaBank. The deal price stands at at least 100m euro.
Austria's energy companies OMV, Verbund and EVN have improved their position in the list of the biggest and most profitable energy firms worldwide. The chart is calculated by sector information services provider Platts. In it OMV ranks this year at #51, Verbund at #166 and EVN at #232.

Thursday - All Saints' Day

Friday

Pankl Racing raised its sales by 16% to 28.1m euro in the third quarter of 2012. Operating profit stood unchanged at 0.7m euro. The supplier of parts for the automotive and aviation industry projects 20% sales growth for full 2012.
The number of unemployed in Austria grew 6.3% on the year to 249,912 in October. Under the country's own definition, the unemployment rate came in at 6.7%, up by 0.3 points.
The brown coal power plant which Verbund is currently constructing in Turkey may be environmentally-risky and may miss the efficiency standards of the European Union, Wirtschaftsblatt reported quoting an analysis of URS. Verbund, however, referred to the fact that the World Bank has already given its okay to the project.