Tyrolit sees 500mn turnover chance
Abrasives producer Tyrolit has said it expects to rake in a turnover this year of half a billion Euros.The Schwaz-based company, a subsidiary of crystals maker Swarovski, announced today (Fri) it was confident to increase its annual turnover by 25 per cent to the 500 million Euros mark this year.Tyrolit explained it had registered a growing demand for its products. The company hired 100 new employees at its headquarter facility and a further 200 aboard so far this year. Around 1,100 people are currently employed in the Austrian province of Tyrol by the company. Its 28 facilities in 13 countries around the world have more than 4,400 staff.Parent firm Swarovski, one of the strongest Austrian brands in the world, said recently it had “massively suffered” in 2009. The firm announced half a year ago it would reduce the number of positions at its Wattens headquarter by 200 every year until 2014.Around 5,000 people are currently working at its plant in the Tyrolean town. Swarovski said it would continue relocating various production activities abroad to slash costs, but also made clear that the plan was to avoid sacking staff. The company said it wanted to diminish its workforce by not hiring new employees following retirements.Tyrolit said today especially that national economies in Europe and Asia were recovering well from the effects of the global economic downturn. The firm, which acquired US American company Radiac Abrasives Inc in 2009, said it was cautiously optimistic for the near future.The abrasives maker put around one out of two people working in its facility in Schwaz into part time work for several months last year when the value of orders dwindled to avoid laying them off.Meanwhile, Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) Wattens boss Andreas Braun has attacked “fed-up, envious locals” in Vienna and Austrias “schizophrenic” regulations for keeping the companys flagship store in the capitals centre from opening on Sundays.Braun said: “We are not allowed to do business seven days a week in a city which would like to be a glamorous metropolis. This is schizophrenic.”Swarovski invested 15 million Euros in its shop in Kärntner Street in the heart of Vienna which opened last December.