Steico SE

Regulatory Filings • Sep 18, 2007

News Details

Corporate | 18 September 2007 08:46

STEICO AG expands production capacity by more than 120 t/day

STEICO Aktiengesellschaft / Miscellaneous

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory
AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Feldkirchen/Czarnków - In order to be able to counter the increasing lead
times for wood-fiber insulation materials, STEICO AG has increased its
production capacity. A production line set up in 2003 in the Czarnków
facility has been redeveloped and now has a new average daily output of
200,000 kg of insulation panels, up from 77,000 kg. In the first six
months, the daily output of all of the 18 lines producing in Europe using
the wet method (production of so-called softboards) was around 1,000 t. As
a result, STEICO's new, expanded line now produces around 20% of the total
European daily output. This line is now particularly suited to
manufacturing relatively thick, rigid insulation panels, such as façade
panels or rigid underlays. Customers now have an additional 480 m³ (around
8 truckloads) of these insulation materials available every day.

The main challenge for STEICO's engineers was that this line could only be
taken out of operation for six weeks. In this brief period, not only the
drying facilities had to be lengthened by more than 70 meters, but all of
the necessary conversions for wood fiber generation, mat forming and final
production had to be completed. Thanks to intelligent preparations for
assembly this work was successfully completed in the prescribed period and
the line was taken back online as scheduled. This is currently Europe's
largest line of this type, with its capacity having been increased
2.5-fold. It will be possible to compensate for the shortfall in production
resulting from the downtime during the redevelopment work in just a few
weeks, substantially relaxing the delivery situation for STEICO's
customers.

Company profile:
The STEICO Group's core competence is developing, producing and selling
ecological building products based on renewable raw materials. The company
already leads the European market with a 35% share of the market for
wood-fiber insulation materials. STEICO is increasingly becoming
established as a system provider for ecological building materials with the
launch of I-joists as construction elements for timber-frame construction.
The insulation materials and I-joists have been mutually optimized, which
provides sustainable support. The increased use of NFBs (natural fiber
boards) produced in-house as I-joist components opens up additional growth
potential for STEICO as an integrated system provider. The STEICO Group was
the first manufacturer to receive the FSC® Certificate (Forest Stewardship
Council) for all of its wood-fiber insulation materials. In addition, most
of the range of insulation products is natureplus® certified. As a result,
the company is setting environmental standards – spanning the sustainable
use of forests, production and its end products. The company has operations
throughout Europe and currently has a total of around 850 employees. STEICO
AG’s headquarters in Feldkirchen, by Munich, are home to its operating
activities, which are at the top of the technological range, in addition to
its research and development department. The group has continued to
reinforce its sales activities in the United Kingdom by forming STEICO Ltd.
in Dartford by London in October 2006. The subsidiary STEICO S.A. produces
top-quality products using high-performance equipment at the two Polish
facilities in Czarnków and Czarna Woda, allowing the STEICO Group to
realize economies of scale and cost advantages. In the past, the STEICO
Group has recorded double-digit growth rates and in fiscal year 2006 it
recorded revenues of € 86.1 million and EBIT of € 9.0 million.

Contact:
Andreas Schulze
STEICO Aktiengesellschaft
Hans-Riedl-Strasse 21
85622 Feldkirchen
Fon: +49-(0)89-99 15 51-48
Fax: +49-(0)89-99 15 51-97
Email: schulze@steico.com
www.steico.com

18.09.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

Language: English
Issuer: STEICO Aktiengesellschaft
Hans-Riedl-Str. 21
85622 Feldkirchen
Deutschland
Phone: +49 - (0)89 - 99 15 51 - 0
Fax: +49 - (0)89 - 99 15 51 - 99
E-mail: info@steico.com
Internet: http://www.steico.com
ISIN: DE000A0LR936
WKN: A0LR93
Listed: Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München; Entry Standard in
Frankfurt

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