Press Information

Semperit: Agreement on further development of industrial strategy, Change on the Executive Board

• A strategy that focuses on industrial customers
• Organisation will be adjusted, with divisions in the future
• Semperflex Managing Director Gerfried Eder moves up to the Executive Board
• COO Kristian Brok leaves the company

Vienna, 20 June 2023 – At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of Semperit AG Holding approved the further development of the corporate strategy prepared by the Executive Board. The cornerstones of this further developed strategy are: the implementation of the sale of Sempermed, the acquisition of the RICO Group, the strengthening of the hose production with the expansion of the Czech production site, and continuing the focus on industrial applications and technical solutions based on elastomers in connection with even more customer proximity.

A further developed strategy that entails organisational adjustments

As part of the further developed strategy, the Semperit Group will implement organisational adjustments and divide the currently existing segment structure into two divisions (business fields). The Industrial Applications Division will focus on industrial applications with highly efficient manufacturing and cost leadership; this includes hydraulic and industrial hoses as well as profiles. The Engineered Applications Division will comprise of handrails for escalators, conveyor belts, cable car rings, other engineered elastomer products, as well as the RICO Group and will focus on customised technical solutions. Each of the two divisions will target different customer groups and their specific technical requirements.

By focusing on two business areas and a resulting leaner organisation, the Executive Board expects cost savings that go significantly beyond the overhead cost reduction measures already being implemented.

Gerfried Eder new Executive Board member for Industrial Applications

The new organisation structure entails a change in the Executive Board and a redistribution of responsibilities. At today’s Supervisory Board meeting, Gerfried Eder was appointed as a member of the Executive Board (Chief Industrial Officer) starting 1 July 2023. Gerfried Eder was previously Managing Director & Director Sales of the Semperflex segment (hydraulic and industrial hoses) and was responsible for more than 30% of group revenue in 2022. He has been with Semperit since 2000, has held various management positions within the Semperit Group and will assume responsibility for the Industrial Applications division. Gerfried Eder and his team have developed hose manufacturing into the most important production branch in terms of revenue and profitability in recent years. Thomas Cord Prinzhorn, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Semperit AG Holding, comments: “I welcome Mr. Gerfried Eder to the Executive Board and am pleased that we were able to attract such an experienced Semperit manager for this new position. Gerfried Eder has positioned the Semperflex segment in an excellent strategic way and has achieved high profitability over many years. It is now a matter of implementing this in the other production areas as well.” In the new organisation structure, CEO Karl Haider is responsible for the Engineered Applications division, while CFO Helmut Sorger’s responsibilities remain unchanged.

Today, the Supervisory Board also approved the premature termination of COO Kristian Brok’s Executive Board contract with great regret: Kristian Brok will leave the company at his own request on 30 June 2023, to pursue a new professional challenge. Brok had been a member of the Executive Board since January 2020. Thomas Cord Prinzhorn on the departure of Kristian Brok said: “With Kristian Brok, Semperit is losing a manager with international experience in the polymer and elastomer sector, whom I would like to thank for his services over the past years.”

_{The first closing is expected on August 31, 2023}
 

_{The closing is expected on July 31, 2023}

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About Semperit

The publicly listed company Semperit AG Holding is an internationally oriented group that develops and produces polymer products for the industrial and medical sectors, selling them in over 100 countries around the world: hydraulic and industrial hoses, conveyor belts, escalator handrails, construction profiles, cable car rings, products for railway superstructures, and examination and surgical gloves. Founded in 1824, this long-standing Austrian company has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. The Semperit Group employs around 6,500 people worldwide in its continued and discontinued operations, including some 3,100 in Asia and approximately 900 in Austria (Vienna and production site Wimpassing, Lower Austria). The Group has 16 manufacturing facilities worldwide and numerous sales offices in Europe, Asia, Australia, and America. In the 2022 financial year, the Group generated revenue of EUR 779.8 million and an EBITDA of EUR 100.5 million in continued operations.