Bene (company)
| Bene Büromöbel GmbH
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|---|---|
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1790 |
| Seat | Waidhofen an der Ybbs |
| management | Jörg Schuschnig (CFO), Michael Fried (COO) |
| Number of employees | 920 (July 2015) |
| sales | 158.9 million EUR (2014/15) |
| Branch | Furniture maker |
| Website | www.bene.com |
Bene is a furniture manufacturer based in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Austria .
history
The company was founded by Michael Bene in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in 1790 as a small joinery and remained a joinery until the 1940s. The company division founded by Karl Bene in Vienna in 1929 manufactured office items such as wooden letter trays and file folders .
The furniture division in Waidhofen an der Ybbs was converted to the industrial production of office furniture in 1951 under the then owner Gottfried Bene . In May 1975 a new production facility with 15,000 m² was put into operation. In 1980 the international expansion began with the opening of branches in London and Moscow . In 1988, the company moved from the former production site in the Waidhofen district of Zell to today's corporate headquarters designed by architect Laurids Ortner .
In the years 1995 to 1998, Bene concentrated on expanding the sales network to Eastern Europe and founded branches in Slovenia , the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Hungary , Romania and Poland .
In 1998 the Bene Group entered the German market and integrated the German trading group Objektform . From 2000 to 2003 the sales network was set up in Western Europe, and Bene opened branches in Benelux and France . At the same time, the Waidhofen plant was expanded by 9,000 m² to 40,000 m² and, with an investment volume of around 22 million euros, it was developed into one of the most modern production facilities in Europe.
In 2002 the office supplies division was sold to an American investor. In 2003, Bene founded the joint venture Bene Nowy Styl SA in Poland. With the opening of a branch in Dubai , the company is represented in the Middle East. In 2004 the step to Asia took place through the cooperation with the Japanese office furniture manufacturer KOKUYO CO., LTD . In the same year, the sales network was also expanded to include Croatia and Serbia .
In August 2004, a financial consortium under the leadership of Unternehmens Invest AG (UIAG) entered the market, which Bene went public in 2006. In the same year, Bene underwent a certification process according to ISO 9001 and 14001. Bene continued to expand and expanded the sales network to include Bulgaria , Ukraine , Spain , Ireland and Kuwait . In November 2006, the German TILL Group, an office furniture retailer and previous sales partner of Bene, was taken over. In April 2007, Bene took over its long-standing specialist retail partner in Belgium .
The Bene Group generated sales of 193.9 million euros in the 2011/12 financial year , while EBITDA was 1.7 million euros. The company had an international presence with 82 sales outlets in 32 countries. The export quota was 72%.
From August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010, Bene AG reduced the working hours for all employees in Austria to 80% with a corresponding reduction in salary as part of a cost-saving and efficiency increase program in order to reduce personnel costs.
On April 17, 2013, Bene AG presented the preliminary figures for the 2012/13 financial year with group sales of EUR 213.6 million and an annual deficit of EUR –28.7 million renovation was necessary. In this context, the investor representative Wilhelm Rasinger criticized the owner family of the company, whose influence in the company he considered too strong. The IPO was too risky for the company.
On March 27, 2015, the takeover of 90% of the company by the investor and restructuring company Erhard Grossnigg (grosso holding) and Bartenstein Holding was announced in June 2015. As a result, the number of employees fell from 1,050 to 920. On June 8, 2015, a capital cut of EUR 22.4 million was resolved at an extraordinary general meeting and Martin Bartenstein was elected to the Supervisory Board. On December 11, 2015, minority shareholders were excluded , whereupon Bene was no longer listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Since then, the company has been run in the form of a GmbH.
After completion of the restructuring, the group of companies has been making profits again since the end of 2016.
On February 12, 2018 it was announced that the Upper Austrian office furniture manufacturer hali and the insolvent company Svoboda will be taken over by Bene.
Awards
- 1974 with Gernot Grabherr: State Design Award for an office furniture organization program
- 1987 with the Austrian national coat of arms
- 1988 with Hausrucker & Co , Laurids Ortner : State Design Award for the C5 office furniture program
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Furniture manufacturer Bene no longer on the stock exchange , accessed on December 11, 2015.
- ↑ Communication of July 23, 2015
- ↑ locations
- ↑ EANS-Adhoc: BENE AG
- ↑ Communication from April 17, 2013 ( Memento from April 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Der Standard: Wrestles for Concessions from Banks , April 17, 2013
- ↑ http://orf.at/#/stories/2279030/ 22.4 million euros heavy capital cut planned at Bene, ORF.at, May 2015. Accessed May 17, 2015.
- ↑ derStandard.at - Bene changes hands after 225 years . Article dated June 8, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015.
- ^ Company website , accessed May 18, 2018
- ↑ orf.at of February 12, 2018: Bene owners buy office furniture hali ; accessed on February 12, 2018
- ↑ www.staatswappen.at ( Memento from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )