AEG AG’s much shrunken AEG Olympia Office GmbH finally expects to break even or make a small profit next year, ending what for a German company is a characteristically protracted 15 years of losses: accumulated losses at the company since 1978, the last year Olympia made a small profit, now stand at $1,950m; yesterday a new Olympia Office Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, based in Wilhelmshaven, took over marketing of Olympia products in Germany and an OSG Office Service GmbH for its service activities in Germany was established; production will be moved from Germany to Mexico where AEG Olympia already has a factory and where staff will rise to some 1,200 from 1,000; Mexican unit labour costs are about 25% of Germany’s; the Olympia workforce in Germany will fall by about 1,000.
