SURTECO confirms growth and earnings targets for 2017

- Increase in sales and earnings projected in spite of high burdens resulting from prices for raw materials in 2017

- Annual General Meeting approves dividend of EUR 0.80 per share. Dividend return of around 3.2 %

- Expansion in strategically important markets in South and Central American by taking over the Probos Group

Munich, 29 June 2017 - At today's Annual General Meeting in Munich, SURTECO SE - one of the world's leading manufacturers of decorative surface materials - presented the company's growth trajectory for the business year 2017. The projection envisages a further slight improvement in sales for this year by comparison with the previous year's figure of EUR 640 million, in spite of sustained difficult framework conditions. Although costs of raw materials have undergone a massive increase in some areas, the efficiency enhancement measures from previous years and the successful relocation and integration of decorative printing activities are projected to lead to an improvement in earnings before financial result and income tax (EBIT) to between EUR 42 and 46 million after around EUR 41 million in 2016. Since the acquisition was made very recently, no sales and earnings contributions from the newly acquired Probos Group have been included in the forecast. After the end of the 1st quarter, SURTECO still has a very healthy balance sheet structure and is generating stable cash flows. On 31 March 2017, the equity ratio was therefore 51 % and the level of debt (ratio of net financial debt to equity) was 36 %. In the first quarter of the year, SURTECO succeeded in generating free cash flow of nearly EUR 11 million.

The shareholders present at the Annual General Meeting approved all agenda items with a large majority. This was also the case with the payout of a dividend amounting to EUR 0.80, which was unchanged by comparison with the previous year. The dividend ratio was therefore 52 % of the consolidated net profit of the Group and hence within the range of the internal objective of 50 %. This is equivalent to a dividend return of around 3.2 % of the current share price.

At the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Management also presented details of the acquisition of the Probos group (Portugal). The purchase contract was signed shortly before the Annual General Meeting and it is scheduled for closure in the coming weeks. SURTECO intends to use this takeover to expand its product expertise in the area of plastic edgebandings and extend its geographical market presence in South and Central America.

You will find additional information about SURTECO SE and the Annual General Meeting of the company including the results of the voting on the Internet at www.ir.surteco.de.

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Profile of SURTECO

SURTECO SE, Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, is a leading international specialist for surface technologies. The product portfolio includes papers printed with decorative designs, impregnated products, release papers, decorative flat foils and edgebandings based on specialist papers for technical applications and plastics. The extensive product portfolio is completed by skirtings made of plastic, technical extrusions for industry and do-it-yourself ranges and shutter systems.
The Group currently has a workforce of appr. 2,800 and manufactures at 23 sites on four continents, currently generating approximately 27 % of sales in Germany, 44 % in European countries outside Germany and the remainder in America, Asia and Australia. Customers of SURTECO generally come from the wood based materials, flooring and furnishing industry and the interior industry.
The shares of SURTECO SE are listed on the official market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt and Munich Stock Exchanges under the ticker symbol SUR and ISIN DE0005176903. They are also traded on the stock markets in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart Hamburg and Hannover.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This press release contains statements of future forecasts or expectations and other forward-looking statements and involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. There is therefore no guarantee for the statements and expectations expressed herein. The actual results and developments may differ substantially. The company does not intend to - and assumes no obligation - to update any forward looking statements contained herein or to adapt such information to future results or developments.