The shareholders of Fernheiz Breite AG met regularly in the Altstätter heat supplier Ristorante Pizzeria Il Portico. In total, they represented 466 share votes and thus unanimously approved all proposals.
The Board of Directors with President Erich Schmidheiny, Vice President William Canal and Christoph Hanselmann were also unanimously discharged and unanimously given their confidence for a further term of office.
There were also words of appreciation for the management with Ruedi Bartholet and Michaela Bucher as well as operations manager Hanspeter Meier and his team from the Altstätter Forest Association.
Higher repair costs
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As Erich Schmidheiny mentioned in his review, major repairs were needed on the moving floor and the tire loader in the reporting year, which drove up costs by 54.7 percent compared to the previous year.
Nevertheless, he was able to point to a pleasing annual result with a profit of 15,770 francs. In addition, the mortgage was amortized at 55,000 francs and fully repaid.
At 5,019 MWh, the heat consumption of all participants was 4.3 percent higher than the previous year. The attempt to integrate the energy meters into the radio network has not yet worked as intended and will be pursued further in the future. The pipe network at the Diogenes Theater must be improved in the long term by a larger pipe cross-section.
The city of Altstätten is planning major construction work in the Frauenhofplatz rear garden area for 2027. The board of directors will pursue these and, if necessary, examine options for supplying the lower old town area.
40,000 francs provision
Last year, four new connections were implemented and three additional lines were installed. The board of directors has set aside another 40,000 francs for the upcoming line relocation in Kratz.
Fortunately, summer operations via NRG-A AG from the jointly operated Städlenstrasse substation also worked reliably last year.
Solid financial basis
According to Schmidheiny, the balance sheet shows 239,047 francs in liquid assets. The current assets amount to 751,930 francs, the fixed assets to 586,405 francs, which leads to a total of assets of 1,338,335 francs. When it comes to liabilities, the short-term debt is 154,890 francs, the long-term debt is 95,000 francs. The equity is recorded at 1,088,444 francs.
The income statement shows a higher annual profit of CHF 15,770 compared to the previous year and planned in the budget. The general meeting ultimately had a net profit of CHF 57,724.
It unanimously allocated 15,000 Swiss francs to the statutory profit reserve and, in accordance with the Board of Directors’ proposal, allowed 42,724 Swiss francs to be carried forward to new account. The 2025/26 budget is based on average energy sales over the last few years, although the costs for purchasing wood chips from Altstätter Rhoden are likely to be around 5,000 francs higher, as Erich Schmidheiny mentioned.
The cozy get-together
He also sees higher costs in the procurement of replacements in the area of IT. The primary goal of the board of directors is to cover the depreciation necessary for business purposes and to ensure the basis for future-oriented planning of the entire operation.
Following the official part of the meeting, the shareholder family was invited to the traditional dividend dinner and enjoyed the cozy get-together.
