Insurance firm UNIQA today (Tues) reported a drop in operating earnings.The company said its operating earnings had fallen 9.5 per cent from 90 million Euros in 2008 to 81.5 million Euros in 2009.It added, however, that its 39.5 million Euros in operating earnings in the fourth quarter of 2009 had been the highest quarterly figure […]
Austrian building materials retailer BauMax will open four new stores in Romania this year, the company announced yesterday (Thurs).A new shop is going to open in Bucharest on 25 February at the new Sun Plaza shopping mall, which is being developed by Erste Groups real estate subsidiary Sparkassen Immobilien AG.Other stores will open in the […]
The number of passengers at Vienna International Airport (VIA) rose by 4.1 per cent year on year to 1,203 million in January 2010, the airport reported today (Thurs).VIA added that the number of passengers with Middle Eastern destinations had gone up by 11.3 per cent and the number with Western European destinations had risen by […]
Senior Catholic figures in Austria have been forced to speak out after controversial comments by an ultra-conservative pastor over the Haiti earthquake.Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner had claimed 90 per cent of Haitians practised voodoo in an interview published in the newspaper Kurier on Sunday when he was asked if the Haitian earthquake had been Gods […]
By William GreenThe Austrian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions reported today (Fri) its membership had remained stable last year.The Church said 3,128 people had left and 839 had joined in 2009. At the end of the year, it had 325,314 members, down 0.69 per cent year on year.The number of people who […]
By David RogersThe number of Catholics leaving the Church soared last year, according to Catholic press agency Kathpress.It reported today (Weds) that 53,216 people had left the Church last year – 30.9 per cent more than in 2008.The figure was 0.96 per cent of all Austrian Catholics, the agency said.The number of Catholics in Austria […]
By Lisa ChapmanThe Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) has criticised this year’s boom in registrations of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs).VCÖ said today (Weds) the number of registrations of SUVs had increased year on year by 22.5 per cent in 2009. There was an increase of only 8.0 per cent for all cars.It said the biggest […]
By William GreenPower consumption plunged this year amid an industry downturn because of the recession, the Association of Austrian Electricity Enterprises (VEÖ) said today (Tues).VEÖ said the fall reached its lowest point in April, when consumption was down by 10.3 per cent year on year.Declines of 6.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent occurred year […]
By Thomas HochwarterSPÖ Chancellor Werner Faymann has announced plans for a new economy stimulus package as figures show unemployment soared almost 20 per cent year on year last month.The Social Democrat said today (Tues) he wanted to introduce a third stimulus package, adding he had “many plans” to help people to “gain better qualifications”.Faymann claimed […]