DGAP-Ad hoc: A.S. Création Tapeten AG

Düsseldorf Supreme Court decides on amount of penalty in German anti-trust proceedings

In February 2014, the German Federal Cartel Office issued penalty notices against A.S. Création Tapeten AG and against some of the company's employees. The penalty imposed on A.S. Création Tapeten AG amounted to EUR 10.0 million, while the penalties against the persons affected totalled EUR 0.5 million. In March 2014, A.S. Création Tapeten AG and the persons affected lodged appeals against the penalty notices.

The Düsseldorf Supreme Court today announced the verdict in the appeal proceedings and increased the penalty to be paid by A.S. Création Tapeten AG to EUR 13.0 million and fixed the penalties for the persons affected at a total of EUR 0.9 million. To ensure the best possible defence against the penalty notices, A.S. Création Tapeten AG had released the responsible persons from penalty payments in these proceedings with the consent of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of May 3, 2013, which means that the full amount of EUR 13.9 million arising from anti-trust proceedings will have to be borne by the company.

The written verdict is not available yet. An appeal against the Supreme Court's verdict may be lodged with the Federal Court of Justice. Petitions and the grounds for such petitions would have to be submitted within one month from delivery of the written verdict.

Should the verdict become final, A.S. Création Tapeten AG will post an expense and cash outflow of EUR 11.9 million, as the company had recognised a provision of only EUR 2.0 million in the 2013 financial statements and had paid this amount to the authorities in 2014 because of commercial considerations to avoid the obligation to pay interest on a potential penalty.

This verdict has resulted in the undesirable situation for A.S. Création that the penalties now imposed by the Düsseldorf Supreme Court exceed the penalties originally claimed by the German Federal Cartel Office.

The Managing Board considers the penalties now imposed to be disproportionately high and inappropriate with regard to the arguments brought forward by the company in the proceedings and the result of the taking of evidence by the court. After receipt of the written verdict,

the Managing Board and the company's legal counsel will therefore jointly examine whether an appeal should be lodged against the verdict.

Gummersbach, October 12, 2017

A.S. Création Tapeten AG

The Managing Board