• Loss of 180 jobs in Curtici
• Romanian output to be transferred to other European plants
• Sales activities in Eastern Europe unaffected by the closure

Dornbirn, Austria – In view of the impact of the global economic crisis, the Austrian lighting company Zumtobel Group has decided to shut down its luminaire plant in Curtici, Romania. The move will affect 180 employees for whom a social plan is being negotiated in line with terms drawn up in Romania. The products manufactured at the Curtici factory will be transferred to the Group's other existing luminaire plants. The two largest production facilities – the Zumtobel factory at the company's home base in Dornbirn, Austria, and the Thorn factory in Spennymoor, England – will be the main beneficiaries of the transfers, although the luminaire plant in Landskrona, Sweden will also be taking over a smaller portion of production from Curtici.

"In the coming months we expect to see our production plants continuing to work well below capacity. Against this backdrop, we have decided that, in addition to the measures already introduced across the Group to adjust capacities and reduce costs, we need to make this targeted reduction in the scale of our production structures. Regrettable as the closure may be for our employees in Curtici, it will help to stabilise the uptake of capacity at our remaining European luminaire plants," explained Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig.

Transfer of production within six weeks
Production in Curtici will be discontinued at the beginning of May and the machinery is to be transferred within around six weeks. The uptake of capacity at the Thorn plant in Spennymoor, England will be further improved by additional insourcing (transferring production operations from external suppliers to the Zumtobel Group's own plants). The resultant increase in production output for the UK market will also reduce the Group's exposure to currency risks.

Further investment in CEE sales operations
The company's sales activities in Eastern Europe will remain unaffected by the closure of the Curtici plant: "We still see good growth prospects for our business in Eastern Europe," said Andreas Ludwig. "And in the coming financial year we will be going ahead with the planned expansion of our sales team for the CEE region. I expect the transfer of production to be completed very quickly, so that our customers in Eastern Europe continue to enjoy a top-class supply service."

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