immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Coronapandemie

  • Lucerne location defies the pandemic

    Lucerne location defies the pandemic

    The canton of Lucerne was also able to attract new companies in the 2020 pandemic. According to a report by the Lucerne Economic Development Agency, a total of 19 companies have settled in the canton. Eight settlements came from abroad. The five immigrants from Great Britain stand out in particular. The other three foreign companies came from Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Overall, they want to create 329 jobs in the canton in the next three to five years, it is said.

    Even founders were not intimidated by the pandemic. If the whole of Switzerland is taken into account, the number of start-ups even rose to a record level in 2020. In the canton of Lucerne, too, the number of start-ups increased by 11.1 percent compared to the previous year, as the report shows. The Lucerne Economic Development Agency supports you in the initial phase, for example with start-up courses.

    Ivan Buck, Director of the Lucerne Economic Development Agency, speaks of an overall “challenging, but nevertheless successful” year. He is also pleased with the results of a satisfaction survey. This was carried out at over 200 companies as well as cantons and municipalities. Compared to the last survey three years ago, satisfaction could be increased at all levels. "A new record of 175 network partners rounds off this wonderful result," said Buck.

  • WWZ Group defies the pandemic

    WWZ Group defies the pandemic

    According to a statement from the WWZ Group , the Zug-based energy, telecommunications and water supplier generated total net sales of CHF 227.6 million in the 2020 financial year. In a year-on-year comparison, this corresponds to a marginal decrease of 0.3 percent.

    "Despite the corona pandemic, WWZ was largely able to achieve its goals," CEO Andreas Widmer is quoted as saying in the press release. "Although energy sales fell as a result of the lockdown and the warm weather, we were still able to keep net sales at the previous year's level." In addition, the group has pushed ahead with "expanding our strategic growth areas", explains Widmer.

    The CEO particularly points out the area of district heating. In the year under review, the group's flagship project, Circulago, put the first district headquarters into operation. Circulago uses the energy of the Zug lake water to generate heat and cold.

    In the year under review, WWZ invested a total of 87.0 million francs in maintaining the infrastructure and expanding district heating and telecommunications networks. As a result of these high investments and increased depreciation, the operating result at EBIT level fell by 10.8 percent year-on-year, explains WWZ. Specifically, an operating result of 37.4 million francs was achieved. At 39.0 million francs, consolidated profit was 19.1 percent lower than in the previous year.

    For the current year, the group assumes that investments, operating costs and depreciation will remain high. "The transition from fossil natural gas to renewable district heating and the establishment of further growth areas will temporarily burden the income statement," explains WWZ CFO Andreas Ronchetti Salomon. However, the group is well equipped to continue its strategic development “even under difficult conditions”.