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Real Purchasing Power: The Gap Between Austria and the CEE Region is Getting Smaller

For the coming years, a steady rise in unit labor costs in the CEE countries with the corresponding impact on the competition for business locations is expected.

April 16, 2011

Austrian Construction Costs Increase Further

Construction cost continued to increase sharply in March 2011: +3.3% against 2010.

April 16, 2011

Founding conference of the “CESEE Insurance Supervision Initiative” in Vienna

The “CESEE Insurance Supervision Initiative” is holding its founding conference today and tomorrow in Vienna.

April 16, 2011

Austria Fell for the First Time in the International Property Rights Index

The IPRI compares 129 different countries for their economic benefits in strong protection of land, intellectual property and other private property.

April 15, 2011

ÖBB Debt Reduction is Further Delayed

The debt of the Federal Railroad increases dramatically through the acquisition of a 25% share in the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) project,

April 15, 2011

Raiffeisen Zentralbank Posts 57% Increase in Profits

Profit before tax: € 1,292 million (+56.8 per cent) - Return on equity before tax 12.5 per cent (+3.7 PP).

April 15, 2011

Sparkassen Immobilien AG: Significant EBIT Improvement

The real estate group announced its annual results for 2010. EBIT for the year ended as at 31 December 2010 improved by more than € 110m to € 60.5m.

April 15, 2011

Semperit AG Holding: Thomas Fahnemann succeeds Rainer Zellner as CEO

New composition of Management and Supervisory Boards. Annual General Meeting approves dividend of € 1.25 per share.

April 15, 2011

Spindelegger New Vice-Chancellor and Head of ÖVP

Michael Spindelegger succeeds Josef Pröll as leader of the conservative party and Vice-Chancellor. Who will be in charge of the Minister of Finance, is still not clear.

April 15, 2011

Households are Relying Increasingly on Managed Financial Products

Almost half the savings of Austrian households were invested in mutual fund shares, life insurance or pension funds, i.e. in managed financial products.

April 15, 2011

ÖBB Promote Construction of the Brenner Tunnel

After the ÖBB detached themselves from the financing of the Brenner tunnel in February, an agreement was reached with the Ministry of Finance.

April 14, 2011

Electric Mobility as a Topic of the Future for Domestic Enterprises

Austria's top politicians are expecting a high potential for Austria's economic landscape on occasion of the opening of the EL-MOTION congress.

April 14, 2011

Austria's trade as a Job Creation Engine

77,000 jobs were created by trades and crafts in the last eight years. The manufacturing industry lost 17,000.

April 14, 2011

Kommunalkredit within the Profit Sector

After the split of the former Kommunalkredit in November 2009, the KA has exceeded profit targets with a provisional net profit of € 24.7m.

April 14, 2011

Vice-Chancellor Pröll Resigns

The Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancelor of Austria, Josef Pröll, decides to leave the political arena.

April 13, 2011

Decline in Sales for Salzburg AG

The Salzburg AG for energy, transport and telecommunications could hold its profits stable despite falling sales.

April 13, 2011

Austria's Labor Costs above EU Average

An hour of work costs an Austrian employer an average € 28.00 - six euro more than the EU average.

April 13, 2011

AutoBank‘s Figures Slightly Negative

The Austrian specialist bank could improve its results and market position slightly. The forecasts were exceeded, according to AutoBank.

April 13, 2011

Increase in Passengers at VIA

Vienna International Airport: 4.9% higher passenger traffic in March 2011

April 12, 2011

Monthly Expenditures of Austrian Households: € 2,910

Household Budget Survey 2009/10: Monthly expenditures for housing and energy account for 24%.

April 12, 2011

No Rush Expected on the Labor Market after the End of the Transitional Periods

After 30 April 2011, an additional access to the Austrian labor market of about 11,500-16,500 people annually from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia is expected.

April 12, 2011

Strong Growth in Earnings for Generali Austria

Trhough a slightly above-average growth in premiums and lower claims, the third largest insurance provider in Austria was able to maintain its market position.

April 12, 2011

Registration of new passenger cars increased by 7.8%

New vehicle registrations in Austria in first quarter 2011: +15.4%; passenger cars +15.7%, almost one-third more lorries.

April 11, 2011

Hundstorfer and Leitl Promote Increase in Retirement Age

The Austrian Minister of Social Affairs as well as the Head of WKÖ (Austrian Economic Chamber, Christoph Leitl, want to reduce public payments for pensions.

April 11, 2011

Styria: "The crisis is over"

The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) considers that the federal province hit extremely hard by the economic crisis has resumed the upward trend.

April 9, 2011

ÖVAG Participates in the Stress Test

Unlike last year, the Austrian Volksbanken group (ÖVAG) is to participate in the EU-wide stress testing of banks. 5% equity is assumed as lower limit.

April 9, 2011

Leitl: Export Year 2011 Started in a Fulminant Way

Exports increased in January by 26%; the target for the full year is to achieve the pre-crisis year’s record export volume of € 117bn.

April 9, 2011

Raiffeisen Bank International Posts Consolidated Profit of € 1.1bn in 2010

Consolidated profit rises 141.5 per cent year-on-year to € 1,087 m (pro forma 2009: € 450 m)

April 9, 2011

ÖIAG Provides Increased Revenue for the Sate

The Austrian state holding company will deliver about 250mby means of higher dividend payments to its owner, the Republic of Austria.

April 8, 2011

Profit Decline at Zürich Austria

The Swiss insurance group Zürich Versicherung managed to increase its premiums, but the results decreased.

April 8, 2011

Coface: Profit of the Group Better than Before the Crisis in 2010

Austria and the CEE surpasses the international trend: increasing sales, decreasing management costs and lower claims ratio improve financial strength.

April 8, 2011

Leitl: "Austria is Very Well Positioned for the Opening of the Labor Market"

Experts estimate immigration potential to be between 15,000 to 25,000 people; gains from migration for Austria, as from 1 May, about € 900m.

April 8, 2011

Austrian R&D Expenses on the Rise

R&D expenditures of Austrian firms increased by 3 per cent in 2009 despite the crisis.

April 8, 2011

Austrian Paper Industry Shows Itself Cautiously Optimistic

2010 was marked by a production volume increase of 9%. Investment behavior remains hesitant.

April 7, 2011

Massive Increase in Wholesale Prices

Wholesale price index in March 2011: +12.1% against March 2010. Cereal and feeding stuff prices almost doubled.

April 7, 2011

Saving in Austria Decreases

According to Statistics Austria, Household saving rate down to 9.1% in 2010.

April 7, 2011

Polytec Achieves Turnaround

The Austrian component supplier could improve its results substantially. Net profits are in the black again.

April 7, 2011

Bene Still in the Red

The Austrian furniture company could improve its results slightly. However, EBIT is still negative. Turnover decreased by 5%.

April 7, 2011

Austria's Economy Remains Small Structured

About 238,000 or 55.6% of the members of the Economic Chamber are one-person enterprises. Their proportion has even risen slightly recently.

April 7, 2011

Andritz Defends Itself against the Greens

The Austrian technology group rejects vehemently the accusation of the Greens concerning the alleged sale of nuclear technology to Pakistan.

April 6, 2011

Tough Collective Bargaining in the Electrical Industry

The second round of collective bargaining in Austria's electrical industry had to be interrupted. About 50,000 workers are affected.

April 6, 2011

Renewable Energy as a Sustainable "Job Driver"

For the President of the Chamber of Agriculture (LK, Landeswirtschaftskammer Österreich), Gerhard Wlodkowski, renewable energies secure an edge on technology and high-quality jobs.

April 6, 2011

Austrian Trade Union Continues to Lose Members

The Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) registered a loss of 11,000 members last year. The decline showed a slight reduction.

April 6, 2011

Economic Growth in CEE and Austria Remains Solid

Concerning the equity markets as well as the economic circumstances, Raiffeisen Research is quite optimistic. In 2011, a further economic recovery is expected.

April 6, 2011

Central Asia as a Region of the Future for the Austrian Export Business

The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ) sees excellent delivery and investment opportunities for the domestic economy in Central Asia.

April 6, 2011

Bank Schelhammer & Schattera with Stable Results

The operating results of the Austrian bank are at the same level as in the previous year. Lending volume and customer deposits increased slightly.

April 5, 2011

Basel III: Leitl Demands Adaptation for SMEs

The implementation of Basel III should take business financing into account, for which reason national support measures are necessary for capital strengthening of small businesses.

April 5, 2011

Increase of Profits at RLB Tirol

Raiffeisenlandesbank Tirol registered a higher yearly net profit despite falling income. Risk provisions were greatly reduced.

April 5, 2011

Strong Year 2010/11 for Keba

The automation company has seen strong revenue growth in the previous year. The growth outlook is positive thanks to new markets.

April 2, 2011

Slight Rise in Results for Sparkasse Oberösterreich

The regional bank could achieve an operating profit of € 96m in 2010. This enabled the pre-crisis levels to be reached again.

April 2, 2011