Low demand continues

Agricultural machinery giant parks employees at AMS again

"These measures will help us to retain staff and thus secure the long-term success of the company," says Gregor Dietachmayr, CEO.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Pöttinger Landtechnik GmbH (2))

Massive fluctuations in demand caused Pöttinger's turnover to plummet by 150 million euros in the last financial year - the agricultural machinery giant countered this with measures to increase efficiency and a temporary layoff of 200 employees with a promise of re-employment. Now it seems to have bottomed out. Nevertheless, the handbrake is still on.

"Together with our employees, we will overcome these challenging times and look to the future with optimism" - this is what Gregor Dietachmayr, spokesman for the Pöttinger management, said in September when the agricultural machinery giant from Grieskirchen presented its figures for 2023/24. Turnover came to 491 million euros in the last financial year, with a decline in demand - including from Germany, the company's most important market.

Moderate growth expected in the second half of the year
However, Pöttinger emphasizes that the trough now seems to have been overcome and reported "quiet positive signals" on Thursday. Final sales to farms and contractors are stable, allowing the trade to reduce its warehouses, which were overflowing. They are therefore preparing for moderate growth in the second half of 2025, they say.

And until then? Production capacities will be kept at a low level. There will be no replacements for those leaving through natural fluctuation, and leasing staff will be largely reduced. The top priority is to use up vacation, overtime and time credits. There have been a few redundancies in the last few months, as revealed on request. Pöttinger employs around 2200 people worldwide, more than half of them in Austria.

"Bridging the production-free period in summer"
After registering around 200 employees as unemployed for three to four weeks each in the summer of 2024 with a guarantee of reinstatement, the company will once again make use of a temporary leave of absence for employees in production and production-related areas this year and park them with the AMS. "This year, we will once again bridge the production-free period in the summer by reducing vacation and compensatory time off as well as taking temporary leave over several weeks in production and related areas," Dietachmayr announces.