Starting in 2011, the Greiner Group (Kremsmünster / Austria; www.greiner.at) will operate under a new structure. Not only will the business be divided into five separate divisions, the Austrian group also announced that it intends to set up a family shareholder council. Executive board members Axel Greiner and Axel Kühner believe the new structure will support group development and growth.

In an effort to simplify group structure, Greiner Bio-One (GBO, Kremsmünster / Austria; www.gbo.com/en) will be reintegrated into Greiner Holding. The laboratory outfitter had been outsourced in 2002, at a time when management was considering going public. Aside from GBO, packaging manufacturer Greiner Packaging International (GPI, Kremsmünster / Austria; www.greiner-gpi.com), tool and plant manufacturer Greiner Tool.Tec (GTT, Nußbach / Austria; www.greiner-tooltec.com) and the two new subsidiaries Greiner Foam International (GFI) and Greiner Technology & Innovation (GTI) will also be part of the holding next year.

The new Greiner Foam International subsidiary – to be affiliated with Eurofoam (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.eurofoam.de) and Greiner MULTIfoam (Linz / Austria; www.greiner-multifoam.com) – is supposed to exploit growth opportunities in the global foam industry outside Europe. By contrast, Greiner Technology & Innovation has been tasked with overseeing those markets currently outside the group’s portfolio and will be responsible for Greiner PURtec (Schwanenstadt / Austria; www.purtec.at/eng), Greiner Perfoam (Enns / Austria; www.greiner-perfoam.com) and weba (Dietach / Austria).

In addition, the Greiner family has decided to set up a five member family shareholder council to communicate the owners’ goals and intentions to the various group divisions. The council will be headed by Axel Greiner, who also will remain the chief executive at Greiner Group until 2011.

Management was “very pleased” with business development in H1 2010. For financial 2010, Greiner Group is expecting revenues to rise by 10% to EUR 1.137 bn. The workforce also is expected to increase by 3% to 7,458, while investments are predicted to rise by 13% to EUR 95m. The only downer, the group said, was the worrying trend in feedstock prices.