Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Slovalco, the only aluminium producer in Slovakia, has announced that it will lay off 300 of its 450 employees. Redundancies in the Ziar nad Hronom-based company are attributed to rising electricity prices, low aluminium prices and high emission permit prices. To respond to these factors, the company gradually reduced its production and workforce. According to the Minister of Economy, what happened in Slovalko is really a catastrophe and the Ministry undertook all activities in its competency, but they were not sufficient.
Slovalco is owned by Slovak Penta Group and Norsk Hydro.
UPDATE, 05/10/2022
Slovalco aluminium plant is delaying the announced dismissals until the end of 2022 to ensure the safe decommissioning of furnaces and subsequent cleaning of the premises. Dismissals will not take place before the beginning of 2023. Slovalco intends to retain approximately 130 employees to continue operating their recycling centre.
While restarting the furnaces is considered financially challenging for Slovalco, the company has acknowledged that with financial reserves from sales in Q4 of 2022 and the potential adoption of an amendment to the law on increasing compensation for energy-intensive enterprises, restarting the furnaces in the future is a possibility.
Eurofound (2022), Slovalco, Internal restructuring in Slovakia, factsheet number 107110, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/107110.