Kontron AG reports moderate profit for second quarter of 2013 and announces a set of measures to raise efficiency further

• Second-quarter revenue of EUR 140.2 million at previous year's level
• Operating profit (EBIT) of EUR 5 million before restructuring costs
• Measures to lead to EUR 40 million of total cost savings from 2016
• Augsburg site to be expanded to become central technology campus
• Andrea Bauer to become new CFO from September 16, 2013

Eching near Munich, July 24, 2013 – Kontron AG, the globally leading provider of Embedded Computer Technology (ECT), generated EUR 140.2 million of revenue in the second quarter of 2013, equivalent to the previous year's level. Adjusted earnings before income and tax (EBIT), and before extraordinary restructuring costs, amounted to EUR 5 million. Reported EBIT stood at EUR 0.9 million, after EUR 4.1 million of extraordinary items.
"I would like to thank all members of staff who have made our second-quarter results possible despite the difficult market environment. These results show that our team continues to work at a highly motivated and successful level for our customers worldwide", says Rolf Schwirz, CEO of Kontron AG. "However, particularly our profitability is unsatisfactory. We need to raise our game as quickly as possible in all areas, and, above all, we need to become more efficient. This will create the preconditions for sustainable investment in our future growth."

Executive Board and Supervisory Board approve specific efficiency-boosting measures – plans for technology center in Augsburg

In order to achieve these objectives, Kontron AG's Executive Board and Supervisory Board have today approved important cost reduction and efficiency improvement measures. Kontron's Augsburg location is to be expanded to become a central, cutting-edge technology campus in order to crystallize synergies in the areas of Research&Development, Production, and Sales.
"Through our enormous capacity to innovate and the very high quality of our products, we have established Kontron as a global leader in its field. It is therefore all the more important to also return our process efficiency and profitability to an acceptable level as rapidly as possible", says Rolf Schwirz. "This will not be easy, but it also has some positives: we will create a
high-tech center of excellence for our staff, which will bundle the company's innovative strength, as well as boosting its attractiveness. Kontron is an internationally renowned
high-tech company – our staff deserve a highly modern working environment."
These measures should enable a total of EUR 40 million of annual cost savings from 2016. The Executive Board expects that the implementation of these measures will incur a total of EUR 30 – 35 million of one-off costs by the end of 2014.
In accordance with legal co-determination requirements, the Executive Board will enter into discussions with employee representatives immediately.

New CFO to start on September 16, 2013

Kontron’s Supervisory Board has appointed Andrea Bauer (46) as the company's new CFO with effect from September 16, 2013. In this role, she will be responsible for the Finance, Treasury, Investor Relations, M&A and Internal Audit functions. She succeeds Dr. Jürgen Kaiser-Gerwens, who left the company on June 30, 2013.
"The Supervisory Board has conducted a very intense candidate selection process. We are therefore very happy to have succeeded in convincing Andrea Bauer to accept the position of Chief Financial Officer for Kontron," comments Rainer Erlat, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kontron AG. "Andrea Bauer possesses substantial international experience and expertise, especially in the areas of finance, controlling and corporate development. As a consequence, she is an outstanding addition to Kontron’s Management Board team in addressing the challenges that lie ahead. She will play a central role in the transformation of Kontron AG."
Optimizing the internal organizational structure, especially Accounting and Controlling, is a pivotal component of Kontron's new strategy. The company has not yet exhausted all internal opportunities to optimize its structures and processes, and to leverage synergies.
"I am delighted that Andrea Bauer will contribute to Kontron AG her many years of experience in Corporate Finance," commented Rolf Schwirz. "On behalf of the Management Board, I would like to welcome Andrea Bauer very warmly to our team. We are convinced that, together with her, we will jointly lead the company to new, profitable growth."
Andrea Bauer, an economics graduate, spent the first ten years of her professional career at Price Waterhouse in Düsseldorf and Paris, and at KPMG in New York. After qualifying as a certified public auditor and tax adviser in Germany, she went on to qualify as a certified public accountant (CPA) in the USA. She became CFO of Xtend Group in 2000, a company majority-owned by Thyssen Krupp Information Service, before becoming Head of International Accounting at Thyssen Krupp AG.
In 2004, Andrea Bauer took up a new post as Managing Director at Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG, Hanau. As Global CFO at the VAC Group, she was responsible for the finance/accounting/tax, investor relations, controlling, human resources, procurement, compliance and IT areas.


Further information:
Harald Kinzler
HERING SCHUPPENER Consulting
Tel: +49 69 9218 7465
Email: hkinzler@heringschuppener.com