S&T AG substantially expands Appliances segment and smart energy portfolio

Freitag 06. Juni 2014

Austria

Acquisition of stake in Affair OOO
Addition to S&T Group's workforce of some 600 employees - of which 400 engineers
Consolidated revenues set to rise in 2015 to EUR 440 million

Linz, 06.06.2014. S&T AG (www.snt.at) signed today a contract for the acquisition of 48% of the shares of Affair OOO. The company is headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Affair OOO serves as a holding which has a 74.5% stake in its operating subsidiaries. They have been active for many years in the areas of smart energy and software development. The group employs some 600 employees, of whom most are highly-qualified engineers. This acquisition has set forth S&T's development of the smart energy sector of its Appliances segment, which forms a key part of its strategy for growth.

The acquisition enhances both the S&T Group's potential to add technological value and its footprint in the Eastern European market. Affair OOO will ramp up the operations of S&T AG's Appliances and Services segments. Affair OOO group's annual revenues amount to some EUR 70 million. The acquisition of Affair OOO gives rise to synergies also involving ubitronix solution GmbH, which was recently acquired by S&T AG. These are in the area of smart energy solutions.

S&T AG was joined by Affair's local management in the acquiring of the shares in Affair OOO from Kontron AG. The price for the acquisition of this 48% stake in Affair OOO came to EUR 5.87 million. The closing will take place upon the securing of approvals from fair trade authorities in Austria and Russia.

The option to acquire a further 3% of the voting rights in Affair OOO by S&T AG will cause Affair to be fully consolidated in the annual financial accounts of the latter after the closing. This acquisition causes planned Group's revenues to amount to EUR 440 million in 2015. The acquisition's costs of procurement and integration will initially encumber S&T's consolidated income for 2014 by some EUR 0.8 million. S&T's business in the segment Appliances has been good in 2014. This is causing management to maintain its forecast for the year's consolidated income to rise to EUR 12 million. Affair OOO is expected to start in 2015 to the increasing by EUR 3 million of S&T's consolidated EBITDA.