Christof Industries Austria, a maker of industrial equipment with 350 workers at its Wels, Graz, Vienna, and Werndorf locations, requested restructuring procedures at the Graz Regional Court on Friday with a 20% quota for the creditors. According to a broadcast, the effects of the corona pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine are to blame for the insolvency. The objective is to keep the business going. As of yet, there was no information available on assets and liabilities.
Christof Industries, a company that specializes in environmental technologies, industrial services, and plant construction, filed for insolvency on Friday at the Commercial Court in Graz for its subsidiary Christof Industries Austria GmbH. The proceedings are scheduled to start in the afternoon and took place on the last day of the quarter. This might be one of Styria’s more significant bankruptcy this year.
Reason
The consequences of the corona pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, in Christof’s opinion, should be the causes. Massive delivery delays, as well as price rises of up to 300 percent for primary materials, electricity, and transportation, happened during this time. These had a significant influence on earnings and liquidity but could not be passed on or included in the calculation for ongoing projects. On the other hand, there were also significant payment delays that even the operationally excellent business with full order books was unable to make up for. Only two projects’ worth of recent payment defaults and unpaid additional cost claims total double-digit million euros, the report added.
The management of Christof Austria GmbH is nonetheless upbeat because the entire group of businesses claims to hold a leadership position in the market as a result of significant R&D expenditures in recent years. Research on decarbonization technologies has received funding. This is the foundation for the expected continuation of the firm, together with, among other things, long-standing business connections based on collaboration.
background
The business declared that Christof Industries Austria GmbH’s action was everything but simple. However, according to Johann Christof, CEO of the Christof Industries group of firms, significant expenditures have been made in research and development for sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions for phasing out the usage of fossil fuels.
Sales of 138 million euros were produced by the family-run Christof Industries Austria GmbH in 2021. The business is involved in building plants as well as in the creation, upkeep, and maintenance of industrial facilities and power plants. Companies in the oil and gas, pulp and paper, chemical, automotive, food, power, metallurgy, and building materials industries are just a few of the clients. Under the Christof Industries brand, 26 distinct businesses and subsidiaries with more than 4,000 people in a total of 16 nations are organized.