Ski producer Fischer (Ried / Austria; www.fischer-ski.com), one of two major shareholders in aircraft parts supplier Fischer Advanced Composite Components (FACC, Ried / Austria; www.facc.at), intends to sell its 47.5% stake in the company. The planned disposal was confirmed to Plasteurope.com by Florian Keiper-Knorr, who chairs FACC’s supervisory board. Local media has reported that FACC’s second major shareholder Salinen Austria, which also holds 47.5%, has established ACC Kooperationen und Beteiligungen as a takeover vehicle to acquire Fischer’s holding. Hannes Androsch, a major shareholder in Salinen Austria, is now looking for investors for this new company.

According to Keiper-Knorr, Fischer’s decision is principally due to the difficulties in its traditional ski business caused by recent problems in the winter sports industry. However, the direct trigger is FACC’s financing requirements, which are beyond Fischer’s means, especially as FACC’s decision to position itself as a tier 1 aerospace supplier will require even more capital.

Keiper-Knorr is critical of Airbus and its parent company EADS. In his view, offloading onto suppliers the problems encountered in the European aircraft development prestige project is incredible and does not make commercial sense. He added that FACC is not the only firm facing these problems and believes that there are no suppliers to the aircraft industry that are currently making a profit, or “at any rate, an adequate profit.”

FACC’s sales were EUR 30m below budget in 2007 because of the delivery problems plaguing the major aircraft being developed by Airbus and Boeing, Keiper-Knorr said. A shortfall of around the same level is forecast for 2008. The situation is compounded by FACC’s EUR 45m investment in new production facilities that are now operating below capacity. Another critical factor is the euro-dollar exchange rate. The only area not affected by this is the procurement of raw materials such as prepregs made with carbon fibres, which are mostly sourced from Hexcel and Zoltek and are invoiced in US dollars.

In light of this, the planned EUR 10m capital injection in FACC – see Plasteurope.com of 24.04.2008 – which Androsch named earlier would not seem to be enough. This is presumably the amount of collateral needed for further borrowing.