The listed building materials group Wienerberger felt the effects of the real estate and construction crisis in the first half of this year and barely made any profits. Earnings after taxes fell from EUR 223.5 million to EUR 0.5 million compared to the same period last year, as shown in the current half-year report. Sales remained stable at EUR 2.2 billion.
“This year is a difficult year, especially in the new construction segment,” said CEO Heimo Scheuch in a telephone conference with analysts. In Germany and France, the markets have literally collapsed.
Wienerberger reacted quickly with “optimized cost structures” and, where necessary, with further restructuring measures. The ongoing “self-help program” aimed at increasing earnings and increasing efficiency, which made a profit contribution of 46 million euros last year, will also be continued, the company announced.
“This year we have intervened very heavily in the plant network, we have reduced costs because demand for new construction has fallen sharply, not only in Austria, but above all in Germany, the Benelux countries and France, and also in North America,” Scheuch explained in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal” broadcast by ORF radio. “We have therefore had to reduce capacity, lay off people and make individual write-offs,” he added. The bottom line is that Wienerberger 20,485 employees in the reporting period (previous year period: 19,195).
These “extraordinary, one-off effects” also include “a very large effect from the sale of the Russian business that we made this year.” The result of the Wienerberger would be – taking that into account – “a good 150 million better”.
The world’s largest brick manufacturer described the level of sales revenue as a “solid half-year performance against the backdrop of global political uncertainties that are curbing the propensity to invest due to the upcoming elections in several important countries in 2024.”
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Image: APA/HERBERT PFARRHOFER
Source: Nachrichten
