AUSTRIA: Hiestand opens first ‘bakery market’

Swiss industrial baker Hiestand is growing its Austrian operation. Managing director Fredy Hiestand has just invested Ös60m in a 22 000m2 facility comprising production units, storage warehouses, logistics centre and restaurant in a business park outside Vienna.Hiestand's Austrian subsidiary currently payrolls 41 employees, but this number will grow fast. Hiestand said the operation needs to generate annual turnover in the region of Ös80m to ensure profitability and further growth.Hiestand employs 1200 workers in eleven different countries. The listed group reported 1999 annual sales worth SFr163m, an increae of 23% on the previous year. Operating profit climbed 34% to SFr15.7m.