Concerts of the order of Herbert Grönemeyer or Pink with 16,000 visitors in the Wiener Stadthalle will probably not be available until mid-2021. “At least that is the trend that is emerging among the major event organizers,” said Wien Holding managing director Kurt Gollowitzer during the press conference together with financial city councilor Peter Hanke and the second Wien Holding managing director Sigrid Oblak in Vienna on Monday.
Wien Holding had the most successful year in its history in 2019 and also started 2020 with two record months. “The lockdown then gave us a pretty damper,” was explained on Monday. Gollowitzer spoke of expected sales losses in the double-digit million amount – which corresponds to a drop of 10 to 15 percent. Of the 2939 employees of Wien Holding, around 1141 were or were on short-time work. That is around 38.8 percent. In addition, vacations and time compensation hours were reduced and, where possible, switched to home office until mid-May, said Oblak.
The entire Vienna Holding group is made up of around 75 group companies with their respective shares, as well as the managed company Gesiba Gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Bauaktiengesellschaft. Of the approximately 75 companies in the group, 42 are fully consolidated companies and eleven other companies are consolidated using the equity method.
–
–
–
“Clear regulations necessary”
Incidentally, the head of the holding company explains that the major organizers do not want to start concerts in the autumn due to the difficult development of the corona-related restrictions. No one can say today whether the concerts that have already been postponed to autumn can actually take place. And it should not be forgotten that such postponements also mean a great deal of effort for the ticket companies – “They have to send out credit notes for each individual ticket. The organizers would rather play it safe and head for 2021,” said Gollowitzer.
In any case, he wants a quick opening, especially in the cultural and leisure sector, which was worst hit by the crisis. “It is important to us that we get clear regulations from the federal government, because it is about tens of millions of euros that not only affect the events, but also tourism and the jobs associated with it,” continued the head of the holding company .
In the cultural field, one is already in the starting blocks: the four museums of the Wien-Holding (Mozarthaus, Jewish Museum, Kunst Haus and Haus der Musik) are supposed to open on Pentecost Sunday – and on these holidays with free admission. The United Theaters are planning to start the musical “Miss Saigon” in September. The renovation of the Raimund Theater would be completed on time in any case. This means that everything depends on the corona-related situation in autumn.
“Everything much smaller”
When asked about the Danube Island Festival, which was relocated in autumn, Hanke said that everything would take place here in a much “smaller-scale” way. This also applies to all other events on Rathausplatz or in the Grätzln in summer. “We need a lot of good new ideas,” said Hanke. After all, the cultural sector is also the business card of the Viennese abroad.
As far as shipping is concerned, the DDSG ships will be on the road again from May 29th. The Twin City Liner will probably not continue to drive to the Slovakian capital Bratislava. As an alternative, however, according to Hanke, an “Austria ticket” has been launched, with which you can travel to Tulln on Fridays and Saturdays from June 5. Orth an der Donau and Hainburg are on the program on Sundays and public holidays.
Profit of 76.5 million euros
Overall, Peter Hanke emphasized that he was well equipped for the future. “616 million euros in sales for the entire group – including around 228.5 million euros in the consolidated companies, total assets of around 1.11 billion euros and a total consolidated profit for the year of 76.5 million euros”, the city council summed up the record balance 2019 together. In addition, the equity ratio rose to 58.79 percent. And it invested around 200 million euros – in 2018 it was 144 million euros. Around 230 million euros are to be invested in 2020.
Wien Holding is thus also an instrument to be able to counteract the crisis. In this context, Hanke called the “Stolz auf Wien Beteiligungs GmbH”, with the help of companies that got into liquidity difficulties due to the crisis. The City of Vienna temporarily participates in companies with a maximum of 20 percent and a limited term of seven years. 20 million are available from the city and another 30 million euros are to be made available by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, banks and private foundations (the “Wiener Zeitung has reported”). According to Hanke, the GmbH started operations on Monday, and about ten companies would already be “on the list”.
Major projects on rails
According to Oblak, Wien Holding got away with a black eye in the real estate sector – with the exception of Therme Wien, which is of course “massively” affected by the crisis. Otherwise there may be isolated delays in the planned large-scale projects, but on the whole everything is on track – including the Vienna Holding Arena, long-distance bus terminal, port expansion, residential construction, reorientation of the Wiener Stadthalle and the projected 1,500 residential units at Gesiba and Arwag.
–
