Ldquoshareholders, banks and staff thus express their complete confidence in the future of the group, in management and in the restructuring concept that has already been introduced and referred to as the &lsquoone&rsquo program,&rdquo underscored oystar ceo tom graf today in stutensee near karlsruhe, the group&rsquos principal place of business. &ldquothe agreement that has been reached provides us with the support that we need. Oystar now has the time and money to complete the required reorganization of the group and to set the necessary course for the period thereafter.&rdquo as a result of the worldwide recession the oystar group has suffered an approximate 15 decline in sales over the past twelve months. Although oystar continued to do relatively well in comparison to the rest of the german mechanical engineering industry, reorganization of the company&rsquos financing nevertheless became necessary. This has now been achieved through intensive negotiations. The new agreement ensures that the company will be able to rely on longterm financing. The agreement with the company&rsquos respective banks provides for contributions from all of the parties involved. For example, the shareholders odewald & cie. Will make more than eur 20 million in additional equity capital available. Furthermore, the respective banks will grant a respite on interest and amortization payments into the year 2011. And, not least of all, the company&rsquos staff have also declared their willingness to make a contribution toward restructuring. &ldquooystar staff have thus made a crucial contribution toward the restructuring of our corporate group,&rdquo stressed graf. &ldquothis high measure of responsibility and confidence demonstrates that the spirit of partnership between management and labor at oystar continues to function even in a crisis.&rdquo order situation and prospects meanwhile the first signs of an improvement in the situation with regard to orders in the next two years at oystar have become discernible. As things now stand the group will generate sales of approximately eur 400 million in 2009 &ndash just under 13 less than in the record year of 2008. Nevertheless, the company succeeded in obtaining a virtually balanced ebit due to the already introduced restructuring measures. And there will even be a clearly positive ebitda. As in the past months the company&rsquos liquidity situation continues to be good and the resources required for restructuring are already available. Nonetheless, management will proceed on the basis of rather conservatively calculated assumptions for the years to come in order to have sufficient latitude at all times. Ceo graf does not expect to see further declines in sales in the year 2010 &ndash but no considerable increase in sales either. However, a noticeably improved ebit can presumably be expected next year as the first positive effects from the restructuring measures introduced with the &ldquoone&rdquo program have already begun to take shape and will undoubtedly come to complete fruition next year. This, according to graf, applies both to the cost side &ndash where large savings will be achieved through, for example, integration of the administrative units into a &ldquoshared service center&rdquo &ndash as well as to the revenue side of the equation. The order books for the second and third quarter in 2010 show an upward trend. This applies particularly to the &ldquoconsumer&rdquo and &ldquofood&rdquo segments, whereas &ldquodairy&rdquo and &ldquopharma&rdquo also suggest that there will be an increase in orders starting from the close of 2010. &ldquothis bundling of expertise in development, manufacturing, service and sales is greatly appreciated by our customers, who immediately recognized the advantages,&rdquo graf pointed out. This reorganization of the group is also associated with a commitment on the part of renowned external managers. Thus only a few days ago christian korte, the former managing director of optima, took over management of the &ldquodairy&rdquo division while christoph giese, an experienced mechanical engineering manager, was recruited as the new managing director at af. Staff and management contributions the contribution on the part of staff at oystar when it comes to the restructuring effort consists in postponing an increase in pay scales and a waiver of a portion of their christmas bonus and vacation pay. At the same time management will forfeit its own bonuses and special payments. This contribution by both employees and management amounts to a doubledigit figure in the millions. Nevertheless, vacation pay for the year 2009 has already been remitted to all oystar staff. In addition, management has also expressed its commitment to an employment guarantee so that &ndash beyond the job cuts already negotiated &ndash there will be no dismissals for operational reasons up to the end of the year 2011. Continued operation of all existing production sites up to the end of 2012 is also guaranteed within this scope. Over the medium term plans are to reduce the number of permanent positions from the current 2,500 to less than 2,200 in 2010. This will presumably affect 200 jobs in germany. In addition, the lower capacity utilization is to be ameliorated through shorttime work in order to retain qualified staff at the company. &ldquothis is connected with the hope that recovery progresses even faster than expected,&rdquo says graf. However, the english business site &ldquooystar aerofill&rdquo with approximately eighty staff will soon be closed the existing range of products will then be continued by &ldquopackaging technologies&rdquo, the oystar subsidiary in the united states. About oystar group oystar &ndash the process & packaging group is one of the world&rsquos leading suppliers of packaging machinery, technology and services. Oystar has extensive process knowhow in the key industries of dairy products, food and beverages, as well as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Based in stutensee near karlsruhe, the holding company currently represents 17 manufacturing companies as well as numerous sales and service companies. At present oystar holding employs a workforce of approximately 2,500 worldwide and generated a total of eur 465 million in sales in 2008. Www.oystar.de press contact laura wilms möller pr tel. 49 0 89 45 20 79 99 email lw@moellerpr.de url www.moellerpr.de
