“We are presenting good figures at a time when things are going haywire,” said Christian Klinger, co-owner and company spokesman for IFN Holding, today, Wednesday, at the presentation of the balance sheet for 2021. The turnover of the Internorm mother is as of 31.12. increased by 20 percent to 785 million euros. This plus is partly due to price increases, said Klinger, “but not in the double-digit range”. The operating result rose by 22 percent to 57.5 million euros. The equity ratio is 57 percent.
The starting point is ideal for financing the majority of the planned investments yourself, said CFO Johann Habring. 400 million euros are to be invested by 2026. There are 160 million euros at Internorm, 120 million euros for a third plant by the sun protection specialist Schlotterer, for which approvals are still pending. 1,000 new jobs are to be added in the course of all investments (currently: 4,082).
Nine companies belong to IFN, which developed differently in the previous year. As reported, Internorm was able to increase sales by 14 percent to 421 million euros. Schlotterer saw a sales increase of 14 percent to 113 million euros. At the facade specialist GIG, based in Attnang-Puchheim, the operating performance fell by 38 percent to 34 million euros: One reason is the uncertainties caused by Brexit. In the current financial year, IFN sales are 14 percent up on the previous year after four months: Overall, Klinger expects an increase of ten percent, “because we are working at 100 percent capacity”.
Online business is growing strongly
IFN sees great potential in the area of online sales: The aim is to cover the northern European market with the Danish Skanva, an online supplier of windows and doors. The German company Neuffer was taken over at the beginning of the year, the main markets are France and Germany. An entry into Austria is also planned: “For a long time it was doubted that components could be sold online,” said Klinger, adding that demand is growing extremely.
In the second year of the pandemic, IFN got through the crisis well because most of it was bought and produced in Europe, said Klinger. This year, the situation for steel and glass has come to a head because of the Russian war in Ukraine. These “very energy-heavy products” would come under pressure because of the gas prices, said Klinger. Although there are signs of longer delivery times for customers this year, “but we still expect in weeks”, added Habring.
Source: Nachrichten
