Image: (APA/BARBARA GINDL)
The company filed for bankruptcy last Friday. The creditor protection associations put the liabilities at more than 86 million euros, around 440 employees are affected. Windhager is aiming for a restructuring process without self-administration and wants to continue operations.
- Also read: Heating manufacturer Windhager is bankrupt
A restructuring plan application submitted by the company provides for a quota of 20 percent within two years – this is the legally required minimum quota. The trustee must now assess whether this is achievable and appropriate. As the Alpine Creditors Association, KSV1870 and the Creditreform Association reported, three companies are affected: Windhager Zentralheiz Technik GmbH (production), Windhager Zentralheiz GmbH (sales and service) and Windhager Logistik GmbH.
Construction project stopped
The latter is the owner of the property in Pinsdorf (Gmunden district) on which a new heat pump factory including a logistics center is currently being built. As of last Friday, all work on the construction project, which cost around 91 million euros and was apparently 85 percent completed, was stopped. In contrast to the other two companies, bankruptcy proceedings were opened today for Logistik GmbH.
The traditional Windhager company produces boilers and has made a name for itself in recent years as a producer of pellet heating systems. According to the creditor protection associations, the company’s liabilities in the production company are likely to be around 78.2 million euros and in the sales subsidiary at 8.2 million euros, while the assets are around 21.4 million euros and 2.2 million euros, respectively. The number of creditors affected is around 354 in the production company and around 150 in the sales and service company. At Logistik GmbH there should be six.
“Extremely negative” market development
Last week, Windhager managing director Stefan Gubi cited the “extremely negative” market development of the past year and a half as the cause of the financial problems. This would have its origins in the exorbitant increase in pellet prices caused by the energy price crisis triggered by the Ukraine conflict. The situation became really dramatic for the company in the summer of 2022. At that time, German politicians were discussing whether or not wood was still worthy of support as a sustainable energy source.
“The markets went into free fall. We sometimes had phases with a 60 to 70 percent decline in sales and corresponding sales losses,” explained Gubi. What was doubly critical was that at the same time the company had high financial needs due to the construction of the new factory in Pinsdorf. As early as the summer of 2023, Windhager sent 179 of its Austrian employees on short-time work for three months after the Public Employment Service (AMS) had approved a corresponding application. An extension of the regulation was then no longer approved, said Gubi.
- Report from the archive (July 2023): Windhager puts half of its workforce on short-time work
As the managing director emphasized, attempts have been made in recent weeks to find an out-of-court solution with banks and possible investors. However, the talks could not have been concluded successfully. “We now want to continue the discussions in order to ensure the continuation of the company.”
The Windhager employees no longer received their December salaries and wages. “We have therefore organized works meetings from Tuesday morning,” said Daniel Mühlberger, state manager of the PRO-GE union, to the APA on Monday. “We want to inform employees how they can apply for the outstanding funds from the insolvency pay protection fund. But it would be much more important for them to know what is going on with the company.”
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