Bekaert NV

Regulatory Filings • Mar 28, 2019

Press - Investors Katelijn Bohez T +32 56 76 66 10

www.bekaert.com

Press release

Regulated Information – inside information

28 March 2019 – 08:10 CET

Bekaert announces restructuring plans Belgium

Bekaert is implementing actions to rebuild the financial performance of the business. We want to raise our competitiveness and upgrade our capability and speed in responding to customer needs and fast moving market developments. Increased competitive pressure and a too high cost structure are affecting our margins. We are therefore implementing actions that will improve our competitive position in the market place worldwide by significantly reducing our cost structure, which will help improve the financial performance of the Group sustainably.

These actions include, among others, the intention to restructure certain activities in Belgium. The management of Bekaert has today informed its Belgian and European works councils concerning the proposed measures and their possible impact on the activities and the employment in Belgium. The intended restructuring would affect 281 jobs in Belgium. The management regrets the personal consequences of this plan and, together with the social partners, will evaluate the options to mitigate the social impact.

Intended lines of action:

• 1- We want to organize ourselves in a more agile and cost-efficient way. We therefore have the intention to move certain activities closer to our operations, in lower cost locations. We intend to move:
  • the production-related standard test lab activities to production plants that have a global service role;
  • the spare parts activities to Slovakia, close to our main production plants in Central Europe;
  • certain pilot line developments and the upscaling of pilot developments to industrialization. These activities would be located in the relevant 'key learning plants' in order to speed up the development and bring-to-market process of product and process innovations.
• 2- The EMEA market of steel fibers for concrete reinforcement has become much tougher: our competitors have moved their manufacturing footprint to Central Europe or are sourcing fibers from low cost countries. Bekaert's Dramix plant in Moen, Belgium, does not have the ability to remain competitive with the current pricing trends in EMEA. The actions to secure our position in the European concrete reinforcement market include the intention to close the Dramix plant in Moen, Belgium and the further upscaling of the production capacity of the Dramix plant in Petrovice, Czech Republic.
• 3- We have the intention to reduce certain activities and align them better with the business needs and the new organizational structure of the Group. This would include a downsizing of administrative and other support roles by better leveraging the potential of standardization, centralization, outsourcing and relocation.

The engineering, technology and functional departments in Belgium will be focusing much more on their respective, global expertise roles and act as strategic business partners. They will be helping the business with the capability to deliver on the short and long term goals.

Profile

Bekaert (www.bekaert.com) is a world market and technology leader in steel wire transformation and coating technologies. We pursue to be the preferred supplier for our steel wire products and solutions by continuously delivering superior value to our customers worldwide. Bekaert (Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with 30 000 employees worldwide, headquarters in Belgium and € 5 billion in combined revenue.

Profile Bekaert in Belgium

Bekaert was founded in 1880 in Zwevegem (Belgium) by Leo Leander Bekaert. Headquartered in Belgium, Bekaert today employs more than 1 900 people in its facilities in Zwevegem, Deerlijk, Moen, Ingelmunster, Wetteren, Aalter, Erembodegem and Brussels. The range of Belgian activities comprises manufacturing, sales, research and development, engineering, as well as corporate, business unit management, and functional services for the Group.

Disclaimer

This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding potential future savings or the potential future impact of the intended actions referred to herein or the potential development of future Bekaert products. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no guarantee whatsoever as to any particular level of revenue or savings to be achieved by Bekaert as a result of such intended actions, nor as to any other future impact of such intended actions on Bekaert. Actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Bekaert is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in light of new information, future events or otherwise. Bekaert disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions or opinions published by third parties in relation to this or any other press release issued by Bekaert.