Austrotherm injects 1.5 million euro in its factory in Kazichene

The Austrian company Austrotherm is expanding its operations in Bulgaria with an investment of nearly 1.5 million euros. The company has started the enlargement and modernization of the storage base for raw materials and finished products at its factory in Kazichene (a suburb of Sofia), the company announced.

Austrotherm is a European leader in the production of EPS and XPS thermal insulation boards. The enterprise in the Bulgarian capital city district produces a large assortment of heat and sound insulation products (EPS insulation), architectural profiles and elements. In Bulgaria, Austrotherm is also known as a manufacturer of extruded and expanded polystyrene (the latter is more commonly known as Styrofoam). With its two factories in Sofia and Aytos, the company holds the leading position in the production of thermal insulation in the Bulgarian market.

The commissioning of the plant expansion is planned for the last quarter of 2024 and will allow for improved warehousing and dispatch of finished products.

Saving energy is increasingly important for all of us. High energy prices and the need for everyone to contribute to the global goal of climate protection have long been hot topics in Bulgaria as well. A large percentage of the Bulgarian building stock, especially residential buildings, is poorly insulated or not insulated at all, and there is a huge potential for increasing energy efficiency," commented Heimo Pascher, executive director of Austrotherm Group.

According to the company’s regional manager for Bulgaria, Diana Chobanova, the investment will allow Austrotherm Bulgaria to strengthen its leadership position as the most sustainable maker of thermal insulation in the Bulgarian market.

In the last 2 years, Austrotherm Bulgaria has recorded a steady growth in its production volumes and, likewise, in sales turnover and profit. In 2021, production at the two Bulgarian plants saw a 9% increase compared to the previous year. For 2022, the growth was 6%, despite the difficulties caused by disruptions in the supply chain, transport issues and raw materials. This is due both to the new changes in the organization and to the renewed production equipment of the plant in Sofia.

Outside Bulgaria

Austrotherm Group is a family-owned Austrian company, which currently has 26 factories for the production of insulation materials in 12 countries. In the 2022 financial year, the Group had a sales turnover of 627 million euros and a total of 1,400 employees. The company's headquarters are located in Wöpfing, Austria. In addition to Austria, the insulation pioneer has subsidiaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey.

The Austrotherm Group is a Schmid Industrie holding company, which overall generated sales of 2.6 billion euros and employed 6,900 workers as of 31 December 2022.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov