Recticel S.A. Business Report FY2009

Business Highlights

Financial Overview

(in million euros)

	FY2009	FY2008	Rate of change (%)	Factors
Overall
Sales	1,276.7	1,555.4	(17.9)	-
EBITDA	102.3	108.8	(6.0)	-
Automotive
Sales	289.4	474.2	(39.0)	1)
EBITDA	(6.9)	50.1	-	-

Factors
Automotive Division
-As a result of the global downturn in the automotive sector, sales of the Automotive business line fell by 39.0% to 289.4 million of euro.This trend is attributable primarily to lower volumes, the loss of turnover in the ‘exteriors Edivision as a result of the sale to BASF of the specialized compounds portfolio (at the end of 2008) and the fact that in January 2009 a large number of automotive businesses remained closed.

-In the Seating segment, sales declined by -17.4% to 130.7 million of euro. This decrease is attributable to lower volumes, although partly offset by the effect of the integration as from July 1st 2008 of the entire participation in Indepol, a Spanish molded foam manufacturer. In this division, deliveries are made mainly for car models in the small and medium-sized market segments, for which successful incentive programs (scrapping premium, etc.) were set up in a number of countries.

-The Interior Solutions segment, which supplies mainly to the upper market, was hit by the economic crisis. Sales fell by 29.1% to 139.2 million of euro. With the exception of the Czech Republic and China, all countries recorded lower volumes. As a result of the present crisis on the automotive market in the United States and the structural loss-making situation of the Interior Solutions Eactivities in this region, two US subsidiaries of the Group have filed for creditors’protection under Chapter 11 in October 2009.

-The Exteriors segment posted 19.6 million of euro, -46.2%. Also these activities were not immune to the global downturn in the automotive market. This division’s portfolio was divested (end 2008) to BASF. This explains the lower sales.

Contracts

- The plant in Most (Czech Republic) launched production in 2009 for the new Mercedes E class.
-The Company will deliver the dashboard skins for the new BMW series and 3 series. Some 5,000,000 dashboard skins are to be manufactured in Wackersdorf (Germany) until 2020.
- In China, the nomination has been received to supply interior skins for the new Peugeot 408.

Restructuring

Divestitures

-In December 2009, the Company announced that it will sell its remaining car window encapsulation activities in Gilly, Belgium, to the Group Strazzante. The transaction will be finalized before the end of 2009. With this sale the Company is now withdrawing definitively from the car window encapsulation market. (From a press release on December 21, 2009)

-During 2009, Proseat divested its stake in the Italian operations of Gestind (joint venture with Toscana Gomma); in exchange for full control of Gestind’s Polish activities.

Chapter 11 for US subsidiaries

-In October 2009, Recticel Interiors North America (RINA) and Recticel Urepp North America (RUNA), two US subsidiaries of the Company, have applied for Chapter 11 protection. RINA produces interior trim for European and American vehicle manufacturers at plants in Clarkston, Michigan and in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. RUNA makes polyurethane compounds, which are used by RINA among others, at a plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan. (From a press release on October 30, 2009)