Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Vienna

  • Overnight stays in Vienna dropped by 84.5% in October

    Overnight stays in Vienna dropped by 84.5% in October

    Vienna’s overnight stays in October were 84.5% lower than in the previous year and reached only 242,000.

    Most overnight stays were recorded from the domestic market (123,000, -59%).

    The results from the other markets of origin that are the most profitable in the course of 2020 are 30,000 overnight stays (-91%), followed by Italy (9,000, -83%), Great Britain (5,000, -92%), France (6,000, -85%), the USA (4,000, -96%), Spain (3,000, -95%), Switzerland (4,000, -92%), Poland (8,000, -48%) and Russia (2,000, -95%).

    Arrivals fell by 85.3% to 105,000.

    The average occupancy of hotel beds fell to 11.8% (10/2019: 64.7%), those of the rooms to around 15% (10/2019: around 84%).

    A total of around 55,000 hotel beds were available in Vienna in October, which was around 11,000 beds (-17%) less than in the same month of the previous year.

    Between January and October, 4.4 million overnight stays were counted, a decrease of 69.6%.

  • BMW moves internal combustion engines production to Austria and UK

    BMW moves internal combustion engines production to Austria and UK

    BMW is investing 400 million euros in a new vehicle assembly at the main plant in Munich and move its European production activities for internal combustion engines at the Steyr and Hams Hall locations.

    In Munich, following the expansion of the body shop and construction of a new resource-efficient paint shop between 2016 and 2018, BMW will be investing around 400 million euros in a new vehicle assembly between now and 2026. 

    The new assembly in Munich will be built on the site currently used for engine production.

    As a result, the combustion engines with four, six, eight and 12 cylinders produced there will be manufactured at the company’s locations in Steyr in Austria and Hams Hall in the UK.

    Engine production will be relocated from Munich in stages by no later than 2024.

  • Austria: Number of naturalisations decreased by 16.7% this year

    Austria: Number of naturalisations decreased by 16.7% this year

    6.336 persons acquired Austrian citizenship in the period January to September 2020, according to Statistics Austria.

    The number of naturalisations decreased by 16.7% compared to the first nine months of 2019 (7.610 naturalisations).

    Females accounted for 54.5% of all naturalisations, children and juveniles up to 18 years of age for 33.2%. Over a third of the new citizens had already been born in Austria (35.4%).

    In the first three quarters of 2020, the largest groups of naturalised people were former citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (700), Serbia (690), Turkey (566), Kosovo (349), the Russian Federation (269), Islamic Republic Iran (268), Romania (225) and Afghanistan (212).

    More than half (51.8%) of all naturalised persons held citizenship of one of these eight countries before being naturalised.

  • THQ Nordic acquires Vienna based Purple Lamp Studios

    THQ Nordic acquires Vienna based Purple Lamp Studios

    THQ Nordic completed the acquisition of Vienna-based studio Purple Lamp, effectively making it a 100% subsidiary of THQ Nordic GmbH.

    The studio worked on titles such as ”SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated” or ”Sea of Thieves”.

    Purple Lamp is currently working on ”The Guild 3” and on two not yet publicly disclosed games.

    The acquisition includes the development studio with its team of 38 veteran developers.

    Purple Lamp will continue working as a development studio exclusively focusing on titles for THQ Nordic and continuing developing premium games.

  • Amazon is the biggest online shop in Austria. Zalando and Universal follow

    Amazon is the biggest online shop in Austria. Zalando and Universal follow

    Online giant Amazon secures first place in the ranking with an annual turnover of 834,3 million euros in 2019, Heute reports.

    In addition, Zalando.at (EUR 346,8 million turnover in 2019) and Universal.at (EUR 111,9 million turnover in 2019) complete the first three places.

    Top five is completed by Shop Apotheke (EUR 93,7 million turnover in 2019), Otto (EUR 84,4 million) and Media Markt (EUR 71,9 million).

    Above all, the ten largest online shops in Austria accounted for almost half of the total sales of the top 250 online shops in the country.

    E-commerce is expected to account for 11 percent of total retail sales in Austria, by the end of this year.

    Last year, the online retail market in Austria grew by 13.5 percent to around 3.6 billion euros.

  • Raiffeisen, € 599 million profit despite impact from COVID-19

    Raiffeisen, € 599 million profit despite impact from COVID-19

    In the first three quarters of 2020, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) generated a consolidated profit of € 599 million.

    The negative impact on Raiffeisen from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily reflected in impairment losses on financial assets in the amount of € 497 million (an increase of € 417 million).

    As a result, consolidated profit declined € 276 million year-on-year.

    General administrative expenses declined € 81 million year-on-year to € 2,164 million.

    Also, net interest income declined € 55 million quarter-on-quarter to € 770 million. In the third quarter, the development was affected by the measures taken due to the pandemic.

    General administrative expenses declined € 29 million quarter-on-quarter to € 690 million.

  • Austrian Airlines to start mandatory Covid-19 rapid antigen tests on two flights

    Austrian Airlines to start mandatory Covid-19 rapid antigen tests on two flights

    On November 12, 2020, Austrian Airlines is starting a further testing phase on flights OS171 (Vienna-Hamburg) and OS172 (Hamburg-Vienna) in order to integrate Covid-19 rapid antigen tests in the travel chain.

    At this step, tests will be mandatory for passengers and the crew on selected flights. This ensures that all persons on board have tested negative for Covid-19.

    The implementation of the free Covid-19 rapid antigen tests will take place in close cooperation with airports in Vienna and Hamburg.

    After taking the test, passengers will receive their results within 10-15 minutes, either via SMS or, upon request, also after consulting medically trained staff.

    The boarding card is only activated if the test result is negative, enabling the passenger to gain entry to the security area and the gate.

    If the test result is positive, the affected passenger will be taken care of by the airport medical service in order to fully clarify the individual’s medical condition. Further steps will be specified with the responsible health authorities.

    In this case, the passenger will be able to rebook or cancel his or her Austrian Airlines flight at no cost.

  • Voestalpine AG revenues fell by 21.9% to EUR 5.1 billion

    Voestalpine AG revenues fell by 21.9% to EUR 5.1 billion

    Voestalpine decrease in revenue by 21.9% from EUR 6.5 billion to EUR 5.1 billion stems from smaller delivery volumes and lower prices.

    Profit before tax fell year over year from EUR 163 million to EUR –268 million, and profit after tax from EUR 115 million to EUR –276 million.

    Voestalpine generated substantially higher operating cash flow of EUR 563 million and free cash flow of EUR 281 million.

    Net financial debt decreased from EUR 4.5 billion to EUR 3.5 billion thanks to good cash flow.

    Year over year, the number of employees in the Voestalpine fell by 6.5% to 47,917. In October 2020, about 2,500 employees in Austria, about 1,200 in Germany, and about 1,800 internationally had been registered for short time work or similar models (particularly Brazil, Sweden, South Africa, France, Great Britain).

  • 200 million euros invested in 2020 by Austrian retailer XXXLutz

    200 million euros invested in 2020 by Austrian retailer XXXLutz

    2020 is a record year in terms of investments for XXXLutz. 200 million euros were invested and more than 30 furniture stores were opened.

    In Austria, two new furniture stores will follow this autumn (Mömax in Eugendorf, Möbelix in Nenzing), in addition to redevelopments in Eugendorf (a total investment of 38 million euros), and in Lauterach (18 million euros).

    In addition, 72 million euros were invested in a new central warehouse in Zurndorf.

    In Germany, the new XXXLutz warehouse in Amt Wachsenburg went into operation in mid-September after an investment of more than 100 million euros in 2019 and 2020.

    In addition, more than 30 million euros were invested in the expansion of the various online shops in 2020.

    Two weeks ago, XXXLutz opened six new furniture stores in Hungary, after the rebranding of six former Kika stores acquired last year. These stores are in Budaörs, Györ, Pecs, Debrecen and two in Budapest.

    Marking its 75years anniversary this year, XXXLutz Group has more than 320 furniture stores in 13 European countries (Austria, Germany, Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Sweden, Serbia and Poland) and employs more than 25.700 people.

  • In Austria you can withdraw money from supermarket tills

    In Austria you can withdraw money from supermarket tills

    In more than 3.700 shops throughout Austria, cash can also be withdrawn at the cash registers, says Heute.

    Billa, Bipa, C&A, the organic retailer Denn’s, Hofer, Lidl, Mediamarkt, Merkur, Mpreis, Penny, Unimarkt and Zgonc are now included, as well as some hosts in the rural sector. 

    How this service works?

    Before paying at the checkout, you can say how much cash you want.

    Per purchase, you can withdraw from 10 euros to 200 euros. This also works several times a day, if the limit set by the bank allows this.

    The service can be used free of charge with virtually all classic ATM cards and the Debit Mastercard.

  • 413.241 people are registered as job-seekers in Austria

    413.241 people are registered as job-seekers in Austria

    This week, 413.241 people were registered as job-seekers in Austria at the Labour Market Service (AMS), Heute reports.

    There are about 4.000 more than in the previous week (409,356).

    AMS said Monday that 348.354 people are currently without a job, with 64.887 in training. Compared to the same time last year, there are 71,000 more jobseekers.

    Employment Minister Christine Aschbacher pointed out that the rise in unemployment is having seasonal effects: ”With the extension of short-time working and the Corona job offensive including work foundations, we are ready for the coming months.”

  • Cable car builder Doppelmayr to cut around 200 jobs

    Cable car builder Doppelmayr to cut around 200 jobs

    Due to the corona crisis, the cable car builder Doppelmayr has to cut almost 200 jobs worldwide, Heute reports.

    At the Wolfurt site in Austria, 95 employees will lose their jobs. After several months of short-time work, the number of workers had to be adjusted, the management announced.

    For 120 temporary workers who had been hired for peak production periods, there was already no new contract offers in the summer. The company is heavily dependent on tourism.

    The past financial year was still very successful for the Doppelmayr Group with sales of EUR 872 million. This year, however, there is an industry-wide drop in sales of just over a third, explains the managing director, Thomas Pichler.

    The Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, headquartered in Wolfurt, is the world market leader in cable car construction and operates in 50 countries. Other locations include Goldau (Switzerland), Salt Lake City (Utah, USA), Lana (Italy) or Saint-Jéréme (Quebec, Canada).

    The company employs 3.400 people worldwide.