Pappas group closes central warehouse in Salzburg

Daimler AG and Pappas group decide restructuring in Austria and Salzburg and cut 110 jobs
 
Restructuring their business activities the Daimler AG and Pappas group want to increase their competitiveness in automotive business in Austria and Hungary. Therefore the two enterprises agreed to transfer the entire import and financing companies for Austria and Hungary to the Stuttgart-based automobile manufacturer by the change of the year 2012/13.
 
Moreover the central spare parts warehouse of the Georg Pappas Automobil AG in Salzburg, which had been in charge of spare parts wholesale supply for the Austrian Mercedes-Benz branch, will be closed by the end of 2013. Daimler AG will then supply the Austrian Mercedes-Benz retailers via the spare parts logistics centre in Nuremberg. This structural change will affect 110 of Pappas’ more than 2,400 employees. According to company statements the enterprise will work on a social plan for them.
 
The sales channels wholesale/import and retail for vehicles of the Daimler AG are traditionally divided internationally. In Austria and Hungary on the contrary, these two business segments have been interrelating for many decades. Daimler AG and Pappas are each holding 50 per cent of the wholesale companies in Austria (Mercedes Benz Österreich Vertriebs GmbH) and Hungary (Mercedes-Benz Hungaria Kft).Now Daimler AG will adjust the structure in Austria and Hungary to their international organisational structure effective 1 January 2013, and divide wholesale and retail operations. Pappas transfers their shares in the wholesale companies and in Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Austria (49 %) and the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services companies in Hungary (10 %) to Daimler AG. “After the expected approval by the antitrust authorities, our enterprise will thus be able to concentrate on automobile retail and customers service in Austria and Hungary“,Gerhard Haggenmiller, financial director Pappas group, said on 13 December.
 
In 2012 the Pappas group sold more than 18,000 cars and utility vehicles in Austria, Hungary and Germany, which means a year-on-year increase of 5 per cent. The group’s net turnover amounted to EUR 966 million in 2011.