April 8, 2014 – The Board of Management of Schuler AG plans to withdraw the Schuler share from the stock exchange. The Board of Management will submit the corresponding application to revoke its admission to trading on the Regulated Market to the stock exchanges of Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Germany. The Board of Management expects that the so-called delisting will become effective six months after the revocation is published by the respective stock exchange management. The Schuler AG share will then subsequently no longer be traded on the Regulated Market.
In his explanation of the Board of Management’s decision of April 4, 2014, CEO Stefan Klebert states: “Schuler will remain a public limited company (“Aktiengesellschaft”), but in the interests of the company we want to avoid the extensive disclosure obligations which listed corporations have to meet.” Schuler expects to make annual savings in the six-figure euro range.
The Austrian ANDRITZ Group, which acquired a stake in Schuler in May 2012, now holds over 95 per cent of Schuler shares. The remaining shares are widely held. “In view of this low free float ratio, the capital market is no longer an appropriate financial instrument for us,” added Klebert. Moreover, the low free float ratio means that only very small volumes are still being traded via the stock exchange. “Thus our stock exchange listing has more financial disadvantages for us as a company than advantages. We do not see any added value,” concluded Klebert.
Schuler shares have been listed for trading on the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges since March 23, 1999. The share’s Securities Identification Number is (ISIN) DE000A0V9A22. In the short fiscal year 2013 (October to December 2013), average daily trading on XETRA amounted to 2,264 shares or 58,000 euros.
For more information on the Schuler Group go to the company’s website.