Image: Salinen Austria AG
EBENSEE. Salinen Austria AG turned its earnings back into the profit zone in its financial year ending at the end of June. After a loss of 3.5 million euros, there was a profit of 14.9 million euros this year, said CEO Peter Untersperger in an interview with the Austria Press Agency.
Sales of the saltworks group, which includes the areas of salt, tourism and real estate, were 209 million euros, compared to previously around 170 million euros.
Tourism in the salt mines this year, with fewer than 600,000 visitors, remained well below the 650,000 before the pandemic. “We miss the Chinese,” said Untersperger. He is confident for 2024. The real estate business is small but stable. 180 million euros of sales were achieved with the salt business of Salinen Austria AG.
The saltworks have been operating at full capacity again since September 2022, after previously restricting production due to high energy prices. Throttling to 70 percent had prevented even greater losses, according to Untersperger’s review.
Of the 1.2 million tons of salt produced annually, more than half is exported. The recent rise in energy prices is a cause for concern.
The company is looking forward to road salt sales in the coming winter with excitement: “Climate change is affecting us massively,” says Untersperger. The last three seasons have been difficult. Not a lot of snow, but rather cold, wet conditions are the best conditions for sales. “A business with storage risk, weather risk and penalty risk,” says Unters-perger.
The planned investment programs – most recently a drying system worth 30 million euros and a packaging line – are continuing. In the current financial year, 40 million euros will be spent on this. Additional staff, including in the salt mines, in the laboratory and in service, increased the number of employees from almost 500 to 575.
Given the high inflation, “one shouldn’t be surprised by the unions’ wage demands,” Untersperger shows understanding. No employee who has a family but doesn’t earn several thousand euros will be able to survive with an increase of 2.5 to three percent. In Germany there is a “reasonable agreement” at eight percent for two years. Mining is based on metal workers’ wage negotiations.
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