The high construction costs are increasingly slowing down projects. After a threatening halt to non-profit housing construction, sewer and asphalt work for municipalities is now being speared. “Budgets were approved last year. However, we cannot now offer these amounts. With two consequences: the projects do not take place and the civil engineers are beginning to lack capacity,” says Hubert Wetschnig, Managing Director of the Habau Group and industry representative. That is why there will also be a discussion with the state of Upper Austria at the beginning of September.
At Habau, this civil engineering business is part of Held & Francke. “We are watching this development very closely,” says Wetschnig. Other than that, the various areas are doing well. However, it is becoming more difficult to actually implement construction projects because builders are hesitant because of the high prices or want cheaper implementations. “The demand is still there.”
The company is “very satisfied” with the balance sheet that has just been completed for the past financial year. At 1.77 billion euros (after 1.54 billion), construction output is at the level before the pandemic. Additional orders could be won primarily in eastern Austria. “In Upper Austria our market share is already high, we are growing in new regions.” The steel construction subsidiary MCE is also on the right track, having succeeded in winning orders for a number of bridges, especially in Germany.
The construction company with its roots in Perg is also having the many white spots in Germany review several company takeovers. One of them could increase sales by 100 million. “We are an interesting partner because we allow the companies a high degree of independence and do not turn them into a department.” Similar to a takeover that has already taken place in Styria, the film insulation company Iso-M. “This gives us independence from suppliers for flat roofs and civil engineering,” says Wetschnig.
Habau is also satisfied with the MCE acquisition, which took place in 2016. The Habau branch in Linz was housed by Held & Francke for many years. It was bursting at the seams there. The Perger Habau Group has now moved into a new company building for 250 employees on the city motorway near Franzosenhausweg. Because MCE’s lease in its decades-long headquarters on the Voestgelände in Linz expired, the opportunity was seized and moved together – which should also facilitate synergies.
Open antitrust proceedings
A legacy is the construction antitrust proceedings. Habau is the company that received the first penalty notice from the Federal Competition Authority. However, the process is not yet complete.
Source: Nachrichten
