Green Earth Group NV — Earnings Release 2010

May 12, 2010

Press release

Business update first quarter 2010

• ‐ constructive talks with Riva Investments concerning planned voluntary bid have not yet led to conditional agreement
• ‐ restructuring proceeding according to plan
• ‐ operational result recovering in 2010 thanks to effects of restructuring
• ‐ great pressure on margins in the Print Productions market, volumes stabilise at 2009 level
• ‐ Marketing Communications market stable

Public bid preparations: status

As indicated at the General Shareholders' Meeting, constructive talks are being held with Riva Investments B.V. pursuant to their plan to make a voluntary public bid for all outstanding shares in the capital of Roto Smeets Group N.V. At this time the talks have not yet led to conditional agreement. We shall issue further announcements as and when developments may demand.

Financial position

After closing the first quarter of 2010 we can state that the actions taken and the associated cost savings are contributing to a recovery of the operational result. In comparison to the first quarter of 2009 the European volume of paper processed has remained stable, but no price recovery is in sight as yet. Despite improved machine occupancy, added value declined by more than 5%.

Thanks to the reorganisation, labour costs fell by more than 13% compared to the same period in 2009. Other costs declined by more than 18% in the same period. This resulted in a considerably improved EBITDA in comparison with the same period last year.

Financing

Interest‐bearing debt remains virtually unchanged in comparison with year‐end 2009, despite payments made under the social plan and payment for the press in Weert. The major part of the refinancing plan negotiated with the banks has been put into effect. The factoring agreement with Fortis Commercial Finance and the credit agreement with ABNAmro have been completed and the agreement with ING bank is in its final phase. It is expected that this agreement with ING bank could be signed in the course of May.

Significant events

Restructuring status

The restructuring of the Roto Smeets Group announced in May last year is proceeding according to plan and will be complete in mid‐2010. Roto Smeets Utrecht will finally close its doors at the start of June.

As an extension to the restructuring and in relation to the group's diminished size, coupled with the arrival of a Chief Operating Officer, a new management structure was announced in the first quarter.

The appointment of a single member of the board responsible for the operational organisation means that the posts of Managing Directors for Offset and Rotogravure have been dispensed with. In view of the group's smaller size, it was thought that this sort of structure was no longer necessary. By combining the management of the rotogravure plants with the commercial disciplines, we shall be able to develop greater commercial power and build up more market pressure.

The marketing and business development department will continue to do market research but will focus even more on promotion and brand policy, co‐ordinated over the entire group.

The responsible marketing manager will develop a strategy together with the board to offer new services so as to achieve greater added value and closer ties with our customers.

In relation to the F&E department, work is continuing to define central and decentral tasks, with a greater focus on control. We shall continue to search for the advantages of synergy among all the plants in a continuous process of standardisation and increasing automation.

In the future ICT will come to play an even more prominent role in our strategy. If we want to keep costs manageable while taking the fullest advantage of future developments, we must centralise and we must optimise the way we use our systems. The ultimate responsibility for this discipline will be laid at the door of the ICT Manager, so we envision a considerable acceleration in the implementation of processes and software packages.

Market developments

The Print Productions business line focuses on three main areas: magazines, catalogues and door‐to‐door printed matter. Subscription and single issue magazine sales appear to be stabilising at a new print run base. Numerous publishers have recently completed rationalisation campaigns to get their exploitation of various titles back into the black. The market for door‐to‐door assignments continues to be stable. Incidental volume effects as a result of the approaching Football World Cup do not seem to be materialising, however. The catalogue market is characterised on the one hand by a shift from print to on‐line, and on the other by changes in frequency from typical summer and winter catalogues to more (but thinner) editions throughout the year. This helps damp out the sales peaks after a major catalogue is published. Taken together, though, these trends are leading to declining catalogue volumes.

The market in which the Marketing Communications business line operates remains stable at the 2009 level. In the first quarter, in this market, the business line was able to add a number of significant new clients to its portfolio. The principal characteristic of this market is a strong expansion in the communications media employed.

Prospects

In this business update we reiterate our statements made on 18 March and 28 April, when we indicated that the actions taken and the associated cost savings are contributing to a steep recovery of the operational result.

Financial calendar 2010:

Half‐year figures published: 26 August 2010 3rd quarter business update: 10 November 2010 2010 annual figures published: 17 March 2011

Roto Smeets Group NV Management Board

Deventer, 12 May 2010

For further information please contact: J.P. Caris, CEO Tel. +31 570‐ 69 49 05

This is an interim announcement under section 5:25e of the Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het Financieel Toezicht).

In the event of any difference of interpretation, the Dutch original of this English translation shall apply throughout this Press release of Roto Smeets Group NV.

Profile

Roto Smeets Group NV is listed on the NYS Euronext Exchange, Amsterdam. Roto Smeets Group is an organisation of service supply companies, transforming the clients' communications – with added value – into printed and multimedia products. The companies are clustered into two business lines: Print Productions, providing efficient, full‐service, web‐ based printing; and Marketing Communications, ensuring the optimum facilitation of the client's own communications channels by means of effective, cross‐media communications concepts.

Hunneperkade 4, NL7418BT, +31 570 69 49 00, info@rotosmeetsgroup.com, www.rotosmeetsgroup.com