Short update on Wienerberger's current performance and the status of its share buyback program: 2022 has been turbulent and marked by incredible geopolitical instability, by high inflation due to the difficult supply chains, energy shortage and hiking energy prices. Wienerberger however has performed very well. With a strong performance in all our markets, we have been able to grow organically and also by means of M&A - in North America as well as in Europe. Therefore, we have decided to buy back our own shares - we see it as the best investment in the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my podcast! I am Heimo Scheuch, the CEO of Wienerberger and today I would like to give you a short update on our current performance at Wienerberger and the status of our share buyback program. We all live in turbulent times. This year has been marked by incredible geopolitical instability, by high inflation due to the difficult supply chains and obviously the energy shortage and the hiking energy prices through Europe especially. Wienerberger however has performed very well. We have seen a strong performance in all of our market, we have been able to grow organically and also by means of M&A in North America and Europe. Therefore, we have decided to buy back our own shares - we see it as the best investment in the future. Wienerberger is growing fast; organically this year and we have used the strong cashflows to buy back our shares. With an investment of a little bit above 200 million we have been able to buy back successfully 8% of Wienerberger. We are determined to create shareholder value. Shareholder value by strong dividend yield that is between 3 and 4% these days and by returning capital to our shareholders through these share repurchase programs. 3% of these 8% we are going to cancel. The remaining 5% for the moment we will hold as a transaction currency, so to potentially grow in this difficult market environment because we see week competitors that we potentially could take over. Therefore, Wienerberger is set for growth: growth organically as you have seen we have been outperforming current markets strongly this year again and an average growth rate of about 6% over the last decade will be outperformed this year organically. M&A wise we have done very good transactions in North America and in Europe and we are going to pursue this growth path also in the future. Wienerberger will focus on costs, very important these days in high inflationary terrain and therefore all the investments and the efforts going into the fast forward program are very important at Wienerberger. Secondly innovation: new products, new systems, new solutions. We see here a potential of further organic growth for Wienerberger. And lastly also the M&A. M&A activities in these turbulent times is important - to further consolidate the industry, to mark a strong basis for further growth and to enlarge our activities in renovation, in infrastructure and also in new build. We see Wienerberger as a company to outperform current markets also in the future. Due to our strong portfolio, our very efficient cost base, we have the potential to further grow and outperform the markets!