Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Vienna

  • Wienerberger revenues up by 2% to € 793 million in Q1 2020

    Wienerberger revenues up by 2% to € 793 million in Q1 2020

    Wienerberger Group closed the first quarter of 2020 with revenues up by 2% to € 793 million in the first quarter.

    The strong performance contrasted with the initial negative effects of the Covid-19 crisis.

    Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the targets for individual markets had to be adjusted accordingly, which resulted in impairment charges of roughly € 116 million in the first quarter of 2020.

    The majority of this impairment (€ 94 million) is attributable to the full write-off of goodwill in North America.

    In addition, impairment losses were recognized for the same reason on various tangible assets across selected European markets (€ 22 million).

    EBITDA LFL came to € 105 million and almost matched the previous year’s record level (€ 109 million).

    Revenues for Wienerberger Building Solutions increased by 5% to € 500 million (2019: € 477 million). EBITDA LFL came to € 81 million, slightly below the previous year’s level of € 86 million.

    Wienerberger Piping Solutions delivered broadly stable revenues of € 221 million (2019: € 224 million).

  • Vienna issues 25 and 50 euro vouchers for restaurant visits

    Vienna issues 25 and 50 euro vouchers for restaurant visits

    In order to boost the restart of coffee houses, bars and restaurants, from May 15, the City of Vienna is issuing catering vouchers worth 25 or 50 euros to all households in the city – depending on the size of the household. 

    ”Our restaurant scene includes 6.500 businesses, which in turn secures around 60,000 jobs in Vienna and 1.4 billion Euro turnover” said Mayor Michael Ludwig. 

    Gastronomy is particularly affected by the Corona crisis – directly due to the “lock-down”, and in the long term also due to the absence of tourists. 

    “The voucher campaign shows that we are fighting for every business and every job,” said Ludwig.

    The ”Vienna Gastro Voucher” campaign runs from June to September.

    950.000 Viennese households will receive the voucher by post, which they can use at a participating location. One-person households receive a 25 euro voucher, households with more people receive a voucher worth 50 euros.

  • Austrian government, €500 million package for restaurants and pubs

    Austrian government, €500 million package for restaurants and pubs

    The Austrian federal government presented a package worth €500 million for restaurants and pubs, a press release show.

    “The catering industry has been particularly hard hit by the corona crisis and therefore needs special measures. We have put together a package of tax relief on the one hand, and support and incentives on the other”, said Finance Minister Blümel.

    What the package includes

    The package includes a reduction of tax on non-alcoholic beverages to 10% until the end of 2020. This corresponds to relief of around €200 million. Simplification and relief through higher lump sums was also announced. The lump-sum limit will be increased from €255,000 to €400,000. By increasing the mobility lump sum from 2% to 4% in municipalities with up to 10,000 inhabitants, and to 6% in municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants, more money is made available for rural restaurants and pubs.

    Further, the maximum limit for tax-free meal vouchers has been raised from €4.4 to €8, the deductibility of business meals in inns increased from 50% to 75% by raising the applicable rate, and the tax on sparkling wine has been abolished.

    “Two brief illustrations: a village inn with a turnover of €115,000 per year currently pays €3,670 in taxes, but with these measures, it will pay only €871. Another example: an inn with an annual turnover of €160,000 currently pays taxes of €6,260 but will only pay €2,390 in future” said Finance Minister Blümel.

    The fixed cost subsidy details and changes were presented last week, so that urgently needed monies could reach companies – and especially local landlords – as quickly as possible.

  • Passenger car registrations fell by two thirds in Austria last month

    Passenger car registrations fell by two thirds in Austria last month

    In April 2020, the number of new passenger car registrations (11.220) declined by 64.9%, according to Statistics Austria.

    New registrations of petrol-driven passenger cars sunk by 71.0% (share: 44.8%), those of diesel cars by 63.8% (share: 40.0%). Fewer new registrations were recorded for new electric cars (-23.1%; share: 5.0%).

    VW and Skoda lead the top

    The passenger car makes with the highest registration figures were VW (share: 14.7%), Skoda (share: 13.1%) and BMW (share: 7.6%).

    Among the Top 10 car makes, all makes recorded double-digit declines: Skoda -44.7%, Renault -51.4%, Audi -56.7%, Mercedes -57.6%, BMW -57.7%, Peugeot -62.3%, VW -66.6%, Kia -67.2%, Ford -67.5% and Seat -74.0%.

    The market for new commercial vehicles showed increases for tractors used for agriculture and forestry (+5.8%). Fewer registrations were reported for lorries category (cat.) N3 (-33.4%), lorries cat. N2 (-44.2%), lorries cat. N1 (49.3%) and articulated lorries (-65.0%).

    Among the two-wheelers, fewer registrations were recorded for new motorcycles (-22.2%) and scooters (-60.5%).

    In total, 19 950 motor vehicles were newly registered in April 2020, thus the decrease compared to April 2019 amounted to 56.6%.

    January to April 2020: new passenger cars -41.6%; new motor vehicles -39,3%

    From January to April 2020, the number of new passenger car registrations decreased by 41.6% to 65.900, or 46.906 vehicles fewer than in the same period of 2019.

    The total number of newly registered motor vehicles declined by 39.3% or 59.223 to 91.580.

  • Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year for Austrian businesses

    Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year for Austrian businesses

    Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blümel said in a press conference that ”Fixed cost subsidies will be available this year. Applications possible from 20th May”.

    “We have already achieved a great deal with the €38 bn protective package we have extended over the Austrian economy. Much remains to be done, but a total of around €19 bn in funding has been committed so far. There is a €15 bn corona relief fund, which is processed via COFAG and includes two relief mechanisms. On the one hand, there are loans, which are guaranteed by the state and granted through the banks”, said Finance Minister Gernot Blümel.

    COFAG has provided around €1 bn in guarantees by now and Austria is one of only four EU countries to offer 100% guarantees.

    Advance payment of the fixed cost subsidy

    Additionally to the state guarantees, the fund provides a second relief mechanism in the form of grants to particularly hard-hit companies. These grants cover fixed costs and perishable goods.

    The subsidy is staggered and, depending on the extent of the loss, up to 75 % of fixed costs and perishable goods can be reimbursed. It is now also possible to pay this subsidy in advance.

    Applications can be submitted on FinanzOnline from 20th May. The finance office checks plausibility in an automated process before COFAG conducts the final checks and approves the payment. 

  • Wien placed first in ”World’s Greenest Cities” ranking

    Wien placed first in ”World’s Greenest Cities” ranking

    Resonance Consultancy’s new index of the world’s greenest cities praised the diversity of green areas in Wien, ranging from the English landscaped gardens such as the City Park to the national park located directly on the city’s borders.

    „Vienna is also the European benchmark for public transit, with almost half of the city’s population holding an annual transit pass—and using it religiously”, says the study.

    Top 10 ”Green Cities”

    1. Vienna, Austria
    2. Munich, Germany
    3. Berlin, Germany
    4. Madrid, Spain
    5. Sao Paulo, Brazil
    6. Manchester, Great Britain
    7. Lisbon, Portugal
    8. Singapore
    9. Amsterdam, Netherlands
    10. Washington, D.C., USA

    To find out which cities are leading the way towards a greener future, Resonance Consultancy collected nine data points to create the ranking:

    • Percentage of public green spaces 
    •  Percentage of total energy needs from renewable energy
    •  Percentage of population who use public transportation to go to work 
    •  Level of air pollution
    •  Per capita water consumption
    •  Walkability
    •  Availability of city-wide recycling
    •  Availability of city-wide composting
    •  Number of farmer’s markets
  • Restaurants in Austria to reopen on May 15

    Restaurants in Austria to reopen on May 15

    Heute writes that all restaurants in Austria will reopen on May 15, as Sebastian Kurz, Elisabeth Köstinger and Rudolf Anschober informed on Friday.

    Next Friday, Austria’s restaurant and pub owners are allowed to open again. However, certain rules also apply and strict compliance with hygiene regulations. The government exchanged views with 6.000 owners across Austria to develop the concept.

    Taverns, restaurants and cafes may be open between 6 A.M. and 11 P.M. The staff in direct contact with guests must wear a mouth-nose mask. A maximum of four adults are admitted to a table plus their children.

    There must be at least a meter safety distance between people who are not sitting at a table.

    Clients are allowed without prior registration to any restaurant or pub, but are kindly asked to make a reservation in advance to ensure that there are free spaces.

    The new regulations for the reopening of restaurants will be published on the website of the Ministry of Health, but for the time being there should be no penalties for violations.

  • Fast food in Austria 2020: loss of 200 million euros

    Fast food in Austria 2020: loss of 200 million euros

    According to a market analysis cited by Heute, fast food in Austria is expected to drop sales by around 14% this year, to around 1.1 billion euros.

    This means that the industry is losing revenues of almost EUR 200 million. 

    In 2019, 1.3 billion euros were generated by Austrian fast food industry. This shows an increase of four percent compared to the previous year. Big players such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, sales increased by 4.8 percent compared to the previous year.

    However, the number of unorganized business premises shrank again by five percent to around 1.400 locations.

    As a result, their average operating turnover increased by seven percent compared to the previous year. With an average of 300.000 euros, a snack stand still trades less than a tenth of a typical McDonald’s branch.

  • Austrian Airlines will have to cut 1.100 jobs to survive

    Austrian Airlines will have to cut 1.100 jobs to survive

    Like many other airlines, Austrian Airlines also needs state support. Negotiations take place practically every day, says Heute.

    The plan for the rescue of the airline is to be set up next week. It will be difficult for the workforce and employees should stay on short-time work as long as possible.

    By 2023, 1.100 of the 7.000 jobs will be cut and wages will decrease by 13 percent. If the planned cost cuts cannot be done, the path would lead to bankruptcy.

    The Supervisory Board of the Austrian Lufthansa subsidiary met on Wednesday until late in the evening and encouraged the management board to pursue its restart plan with all its might.

  • Austrian summer tourism depends on German and local guests

    Austrian summer tourism depends on German and local guests

    Around two thirds of overnight stays in Austria in summer 2019 were accounted for by German and Austrian guests, as Statistics Austria reports.

    The share of resident guests in relation to the total of 79 million nights spent in the period from May to October 2019 amounted to 29.5%, guests from Germany accounted for 37.4% and guests from all other countries 33.1%.

    In 2019, half (49.3%) of all nights spent in the summer season took place in the main season in July and August, around a quarter each in the pre-season months May and June and the post-season months September and October.

    The western Austrian Laender Vorarlberg and Tyrol are highly dependent on the German market.

    Western Austria is the engine of the tourism industry

    Half of all nights spent in the summer season 2019 (50.7%) took place in the western Austrian Laender Tyrol (28.0%), Salzburg (17.4%) and Vorarlberg (5.3%). While these regions depend to a large extent on German guests (54.8%, 40.9% and 58.4% of all summer overnight stays in 2019 in the respective Austrian Laender), resident tourists dominate in eastern parts of the country such as Burgenland (nights spent share: 73.5%), Lower Austria (62.3%), Styria (60.4%) and also Upper Austria (52.1%). In contrast, in the capital Vienna, 63.1% of all nights spent were due to markets other than Germany and Austria.

    In summer 2019, almost three quarters of the 29.5 million nights spent by guests from the most important country of origin, Germany, were in Tyrol (41.1%), Salzburg (19.1%) and Carinthia (12.1%). The third most important market of origin (after Germany and Austria) – the Netherlands – contributed almost 4 million nights spent to the overall result in the 2019 summer season.

    Almost 80% of all nights spent by Dutch guests took place in Tyrol (40.0%), Carinthia (20.3%) and Salzburg (18.0%). Guests from Switzerlandand Liechtenstein particularly liked to spend nights in Tyrol (52.8% of Swiss summer nights spent).

    Styria and Carinthia are particularly popular with resident tourists

    In summer 2019, resident guests accounted for 23.3 million of the nights spent in Austria. The most popular destination of Austrian residents was Styria, almost one fifth of all nights spent by resident tourists took place in this federal state (19.1%), followed by Carinthia (16.7%), Salzburg (13.8%), Lower Austria (12.6%), Upper Austria (12.0%) and Tyrol (10.0%). 

    Residents from Vienna spent 5 million nights in Austria in summer 2019, more than half of them in Styria (20.8%), in Lower Austria (18.0%) and Carinthia (16.8%). Guests from Lower Austria mainly preferred their own region (19.8%), followed by Styria (19.2%).

    One fifth of the total nights spent (23 million) by resident guests in Austria in summer 2019 came from Vienna (21.5%), followed by Lower Austria (19.9%), Upper Austria (17.1%) and Styria (14.6%).

    Upper Austrians recorded the highest proportion of summer overnight stays in their own region (38.6% of nights spent in Upper Austria), followed by guests from Vorarlberg (28.3% of nights spent in their own region) and Styrians (24.9%).

  • Turnover of Austrian retail trade decreased by 29.0% in the non-food area

    Turnover of Austrian retail trade decreased by 29.0% in the non-food area

    In March 2020, the turnover of Austrian retail trade decreased by 12.9% in nominal terms and by 13.7% in real terms compared to March 2019, according to preliminary calculations by Statistics Austria.

    The main reason for this decline is the closure of a large part of the shops due to measures to contain the corona pandemic. In the non-food sector, which was particularly affected, the minus was 29.0% (nominal).

    In the first quarter of 2020, turnover decreased by 1.5% in nominal terms and sales decreased by 2.7%.

    Results were calculated by Statistics Austria, Short Term Statistics Trade.

  • First European Apple store to reopen, in Wien

    First European Apple store to reopen, in Wien

    On May 5, Apple is opening its store in Vienna on Kärntnerstrasse. It is the first Apple store in Europe to reopen, according to Heute.

    The daily opening times are temporarily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

    In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Apple has closed down its stores across the globe, except for mainland China. 

    For now, Apple will continue to encourage customers to shop online while the stores will focus more on services and support.