Wienerberger is trying to steady itself on several fronts at once. The building materials group is still looking for a permanent chief executive after Heimo Scheuch stepped down unexpectedly in early August for health reasons, while investors are also weighing a planned reduction in leverage that management hopes will reshape the balance sheet over the next few years.
Gerhard Hanke, who had been deputy CEO since June and previously served for several years as chief financial officer before most recently taking on the role of COO for Central and Eastern Europe, is running the company in the interim. Wienerberger said at the time that it had launched a structured search for a long-term successor, but no solution has been announced yet.
That leadership gap comes at a delicate moment. The stock is already under pressure, and the company’s latest financial targets are being scrutinized against a
The debt reduction plan is one of the clearest markers of where Wienerberger wants to go. The group expects its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to stand at 2.8x this year, before easing to 2.4x by the end of 2027. Longer term, management is aiming for 2.0x.
Those targets matter because the operating picture has softened. Half-year results published about a month ago showed operating EBITDA of EUR 326 million, down 15 percent from the same period a year earlier, with the margin slipping to 13.4 percent. Revenue nonetheless rose 4 percent to EUR 2,434 million.
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The damage was concentrated in housing markets in the US, Canada and the UK, prompting Wienerberger to cut its full-year operating EBITDA forecast to about EUR 700 million. In the first half, a EUR 47 million provision tied to a US antitrust case added another burden, helping to push EBIT down 70 percent to EUR 60 million. Gross margin also narrowed, from 36.2 percent to 34.5 percent.
To help offset that pressure, the company is leaning on two levers: price increases of up to 5 percent by year-end and the “Fit-for-Growth” cost-cutting programme, which is expected to contribute EUR 25 million this year. The portfolio mix is also shifting. Infrastructure and renovation now account for more than 60 percent of group revenue, helped by the recent acquisitions of Italy’s Italcer group and Sweden’s NEWS Group.
Meanwhile, a further sign of caution has come from one of Wienerberger’s large shareholders. US asset manager Fidelity trimmed its holding again, according to a regulatory filing. FMR LLC’s voting stake fell to 5.95 percent, while its total position declined from 6.55 percent to 6.29 percent. Fidelity Management & Research Company also moved below the 4 percent threshold.
The share price reflects that combination of operational strain, ownership changes and management uncertainty. Wienerberger stock is currently at EUR 17.89, only just above its 52-week low of EUR 17.75, which was reached on 14 September. Since the start of the year, the shares have lost 41 percent, and over the past 30 days they are down 14 percent. The gap to the 200-day average of EUR 24.87 is 28 percent.
A relative-strength index of 27 points to a heavily oversold technical setup, while the latest quote is also only 1.4 percent above the 52-week low of EUR 17.56 marked just a few days ago in the separate trading snapshot. In either case, the message from the market is the same: investors remain sceptical until Wienerberger can show that the leadership transition is resolved and the deleveraging plan can proceed against a more stable operating backdrop.
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