Individual value adjustment from a legal dispute affects consolidated financial statement 2019 of BAUER AG

Schrobenhausen – The consolidated financial statement of BAUER Aktiengesellschaft (ISIN DE0005168108) for 2019 will be negatively affected by an individual value adjustment to be made due to a legal dispute. As a result, the Group will not achieve its forecast for 2019 given to date.

The ruling received today from the Hong Kong High Court, with an unexpected negative outcome, ends an appeal in state courts in relation to an arbitration ruling made in 2018.

An affiliated company of the BAUER Group carried out major construction works for an underground train station in 2011 and 2012 and had claimed additional expenses from the client due to difficult soil conditions. For the Group, the new ruling now means a reassessment of the original arbitration ruling and a considerable burden on earnings.

The Management Board therefore expects that value adjustments of around EUR 40 million will have to be made in the balance sheet. The burden on liquidity is expected to be around EUR 10 million.

Due to this effect, the BAUER Group expects, that the key earnings figures EBIT and earnings after taxes for the financial year 2019 will fall by around EUR 40 million compared with the last forecast. Previously, an EBIT of EUR 70 million and only slightly positive earnings after taxes were expected.

As a result, the BAUER Group will not be able to meet the covenants agreed with its financial partners as at 2019, December 31. As the Group has been able to significantly reduce its net debt in recent years and significantly improve its overall financing situation, the Management Board believes that a good solution will be found together with the financial partners.

The Management Board of BAUER AG has therefore decided that no dividend will be paid to shareholders for the 2019 financial year.