22. 02. 12. - 16:09

Wienerberger among the winners again

Wienerberger AG chiefs are optimistic about the coming months despite various economic uncertainties all over the world.

Heimo Scheuch, who heads the Viennese manufacturer of bricks, said yesterday (Tues) he expected Wienerberger to achieve a profit this year. Scheuch explained that his firm had a net profit of 40.8 million Euros last year after having sustained a loss of 34.9 million Euros in 2010. Wienerberger managed to increase its turnover by 16 per cent from 2010 to 2011 to 2.02 billion Euros, according to Scheuch.

Wienerberger looks back on difficult years. The company decided to shut down 31 factories across Europe between 2008, when the global economic crisis broke out, and spring of last year to cope with tumbling order values. Around 3,300 workers lost their job during this period. Wienerberger has 12,000 employees in Austria and abroad at the moment.

Scheuch said yesterday he was concerned about his firm’s activities in the United States where the construction sector still experiences negative effects caused by the crisis. Scheuch expressed worries about operations in the Eastern European (EE) region as well but also pointed out that this would not keep Wienerberger from achieving an annual turnover of more than three billion Euros "rather soon".

Wienerberger – the world’s biggest producer of bricks – is quoted on the Vienna Stock Exchange (WBAG). One share was worth 9.23 Euros at 11am today, down from 9.33 Euros on 15 February. The company acquired Belgian family business Heylen Bricks in March 2011. Heylen Bricks had a turnover of 6.2 million Euros in 2010. Already in February of last year, German building enterprise Monier purchased Wienerberger’s 50 per cent stake in Lower Austrian roofing expert Bramac.

Scheuch said Heylen Bricks would match Wienerberger’s profile "perfectly". He lauded the Lanaken-based firm for being an "ideal addition" to his enterprise’s network. Scheuch also underlined that Heylen Bricks had a "strong distribution structure" in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Wienerberger’s performance news for 2011 means that the firm achieved a profit for the first time since 2008. Wienerberger registered a high turnover too back then at 2.43 billion Euros. Wienerberger paid 162 million Euros to its joint venture partner Solvay to acquire the company’s 50 per cent stake in plastic pipe producer Pipelife. Cartel authorities still have to give the go-ahead to the deal which was announced last week.

Pipelife – which has its headquarters in Wiener Neudorf in Lower Austria – has more than 2,600 staff in 27 countries. It has been owned by Solvay, a Belgian chemical company, and Wienerberger for around 20 years. Pipelife is especially doing well in Northern Europe, the Benelux countries, France and Austria, according to Wienerberger officials.

Wienerberger is increasingly concentrating on getting assignments abroad but nevertheless strongly depending on the condition of the real economy in Austria. The analysts of Erste Group Bank AG (Erste Bank) said last week the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 0.9 per cent from 2011 to 2012. Bank Austria’s (BA) economists predicted an improvement of only 0.4 per cent while researchers of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) announced they expected the GDP to grow by 0.8 per cent from last year to the current year.