KRONES AG — Board/Management Information 2004

Nov 25, 2004

News Details

Corporate | 25 November 2004 08:17

KRONES signs a pact to secure and upgrade the future of its German facilities

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– KRONES signs a pact to secure and upgrade the future of its German facilities KRONES AG, the world’s biggest manufacturer of beverage bottling lines and packaging machinery, has signed a pact designed to secure and upgrade the future of its facilities in Germany. On 24 November 2004, the executive board and workforce representatives signed a path-breaking company agreement entitled “Employment – Success – Future” (abbreviated in German to “BEZ”). Under this scheme, the company is offering job security to its more than 7,300 employees in Germany at the plants in Neutraubling, Nittenau, Rosenheim, Freising and Flensburg, and a pledge to keep these facilities in being, to cover the period up to 2010. It is increasing its trainee numbers, and in the next few years will be investing around 110 million euros in upgrading and expanding the German facilities. In return, the staff are accepting a capacity-driven, flexible working-hours arrangement which not only covers high capacity utilisation periods but also permits a commercially necessary reaction to major capacity fluctuations. Hours worked above and beyond the arrangements already in place will be collected in a separate worktime account (BEZ time account), and paid separately as well. The remuneration involved has fixed constituents and provides for variable special remuneration in dependence on the group’s commercial success. With this highly flexible new scheme, scheduled to come into force on 1 January 2005, KRONES has, in conjunction with its staff, created a crucial precondition for meeting and mastering the future challenges of globalised competition while retaining its German facilities as well. Brief portrait: the KRONES Group The KRONES Group is headquartered in Neutraubling/Upper Palatinate, Germany; it plans, develops and manufactures machines and complete lines for bottling, canning and packaging processes in the beverage, food, chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. It operates plants in Neutraubling, Nittenau, Flensburg, Freising and Rosenheim. Besides KRONES AG (M-DAX), the group also includes the production subsidiaries Steinecker (brewing technology), Sander Hansen (pasteurisers), Syskron (process automation) and Kosme (machines for the lower output range), plus more than 40 companies abroad, which ensure comprehensive service support during a line’s entire lifetime. With a payroll of 8,690, the group’s turnover in 2003 totalled a good 1.4 billion euros. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 25.11.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 633500; ISIN: DE0006335003; Index: MDAX Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) und München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg und Stuttgart 250749 Nov 04