Erste Funds Trim Wienerberger Stake to 3.82% as Brickmaker Braces for Cost Squeeze

Erste Asset Management's managed investment funds have cut their voting stake in Wienerberger, the Vienna-listed brickmaker disclosed yesterday, with the position slipping to 3.82% from 4.22%. The threshold was crossed on Tuesday, and the reduced holding corresponds to 4,179,532 voting rights. The notification, filed after the deadline, covers shares held within managed funds rather than directly by Erste Asset Management, and the reported position excludes financial instruments.

Investors weighing that shift are doing so against a demanding operating picture. Chief executive Gerhard Hanke has flagged weak demand across key markets, rising costs and a tough new-build environment — a combination that squeezes both volumes and margins. Group revenue for 2025 came in at EUR 4.6bn, with operating EBITDA of EUR 754m, the reference base against which any recovery in earnings power will be judged.

Hanke's position at the helm is now permanent. He had run the company on an interim basis since August, stepping in after Heimo Scheuch's early departure on health grounds, and his formal appointment completes the succession. His familiarity with the business runs deep: more than 25 years at Wienerberger, including a spell as CFO from 2021 to 2025 before he took over as COO Central & East — a CV that pairs financial oversight with hands-on operational experience.

The regional duties he previously carried are being spread across the wider leadership team. CFO Dagmar Steinert and Harald Schwarzmayr, COO West, keep their existing remits. Whether that redistribution locks in clear operational accountability while Hanke takes on overall leadership is the question that matters for execution.

There is a parallel handover in the regional business. Simon Nevitt took over the COO role at Wienerberger UK & Ireland on 1 November from Keith Barker, who is retiring as planned and will stay on until the end of December to smooth the transition. A managed handover of that kind can preserve continuity, provided knowledge and responsibility pass across in an orderly way.

For shareholders, the operational test outweighs any single voting-rights filing. A more favourable read on the company depends on Wienerberger absorbing cost pressure or seeing demand pick up — ideally both, without higher expenses eating into any extra revenue. Cost discipline gains importance for as long as key markets stay soft. The next checkpoint is the quarterly update due today, which should show how well the group is holding up in a difficult environment; the change in the Erste fund position sits alongside that as a shareholder-structure development rather than a verdict on the business.