“Bigger bites”: Internorm parent is looking at international takeovers

The IFN Holding AG from Traun, to which the well-known window company belongs Internorm belongs, is positioning itself for further international growth. The consolidation in the market is accelerating. In the future, they want to “participate proactively,” says the company Barbara DeslCFO of the holding company. No details can be given yet. However, the group will not leave its product portfolio or Europe in the next five years.

The group is currently positioned in such a way that it can also handle “bigger bites” from European competition, according to co-owner and company spokesman Christian Klinger on Wednesday. Internally, the IFN will continue to be no “centrally managed company”. However, Desl sees potential in bundling, for example in purchasing: “We need a certain amount of momentum as a group.”

In 2025, IFN’s sales were 799 million euros.

In 2025, the holding company recorded one Sales volume of 799 million euros. Taking into account the Portfolio changes That’s an increase of two percent. “This is a really great achievement in the current situation in the industry. Not many people are seeing growth at the moment,” says Desl, commenting on the result.

At the beginning of the year the GIG group (facade systems) sold. The Lithuanian window manufacturer came in March Wheel to the group to stabilize the supply chain for online retail in Denmark.

Without adjusting the result, there was a decrease of two percent. Above all Internormthe group’s most important company, weakened last year. Together with the Mühlviertler Door Manufactory Topic it recorded a decline of 5.5 percent. “This is a serious blow because this is our largest business area,” reports Desl.

The number of new residential buildings is declining in Austria

With a 38 percent share of sales, the domestic market remained the most important for the group in 2025, followed by the German market. “We are currently very focused on that ROOF-Space. In the future, we would like to balance this out more and grow faster in other countries,” announces Desl.

The background is something like this New construction market. According to forecasts, the number of apartment completions in Austria is expected to fall by 14 percent from 2025 to 2028. In other countries (such as Denmark, Sweden or Finland) there is again a strong increase in the number of people New residential buildings expected.

The decline was offset by other business areas whose sales grew, such as the German online window retailer Neuffer (plus 26 percent) and Danish window production Kastrup (plus 14 percent).

High labor costs at the local location are a burden

The group employs 70 percent of its approximately 3,900 employees in Austria. What makes the company particularly good is the high Labor costs to accomplish. “In other countries such as Denmark or Switzerland, inflation has never been higher than three percent. There it is difficult for us to explain why in Austria Wage increases of 30 percent,” says Klinger.

Another problem domestically is the loss of Funding for the renovation of buildings. This would noticeably reduce demand, says Klinger.

In 2024 and 2025, the group invested around 30 million euros, primarily in this area automation. Last year, twelve of them flowed into Internorm. IFN invested four million in the domestic producer of sun protection systems Schlotterer. This would urgently need additional capacity and a third plant, reports Klinger. However, these investments have so far failed due to a lack of approvals.

Klinger has announced investments of 42 million euros for 2026.