The long-time CEO of the Styrian printed circuit board manufacturer AT&S, Andreas Gerstenmayer, is leaving the board early on September 30. “We ourselves were surprised by Mr. Gerstenmayer’s decision,” said company spokesman Gerald Reischl. On the homepage, Gerstenmayer still appeared yesterday as a board member, appointed for March 31, 2026 – until then the contract, which was extended by five years in 2020, would have run.
Industrialist Hannes Androsch, whose foundation has an 18 percent stake in the circuit board manufacturer, initially spoke of a “personal decision”. Recently, an explosive supervisory board meeting was called, allegedly to get rid of Gerstenmayer early, but this did not happen. The 59-year-old has been at the helm of the group since 2010, which is struggling with a difficult market environment and has posted a loss of 37 million euros. The OÖN reached supervisory board president Hannes Androsch by phone yesterday in Vienna-Floridsdorf: “The microelectronics market is struggling with problems, see Infineon or Intel. AT&S has not escaped unscathed either.”
“Unanimously adopted”
They now have to do their homework, which is why they have separated from areas that are not part of the company’s core tasks. Gerstenmayer’s resignation was “unanimously accepted” by the responsible committees. Androsch did not say anything more about it. In May 2024, AT&S called off a planned capital increase in which the state holding company ÖBAG was to have become a shareholder. The reason given was the “volatile market environment”. Gerstenmayer was in favor, Androsch against. At the same time, AT&S announced that it would cut up to 1,000 jobs worldwide, 250 in Styria.
Only on Monday it was announced that the Korean subsidiary AT&S Korea, including the plant in Ansan, would be sold to the Italian company Somacis for 405 million euros. As a result, the circuit board manufacturer also had to adjust its targets for this year. If the deal is completed, the company expects sales of between 1.6 and 1.7 billion euros in the 2024/25 financial year, after previously forecasting 1.7 to 1.8 billion euros. AT&S shares slipped by 5.31 percent to 19.62 euros after the sale was announced.
On September 6, the OÖN reported on “turbulent times” at the listed printed circuit board manufacturer AT&S, based in Leoben:
Gerstenmayer has been at the helm of the technology group since February 2010. The 59-year-old’s contract was last extended early for a further five years in 2020; the current term of office would actually have run until May 2026.
