Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG: PWO AG reduces Executive Board to 2 members

Oberkirch, April 25, 2023 - Johannes Obrecht, member of the Executive Board of PWO AG and Chief Operating Officer since July 2016, has informed the Supervisory Board of PWO AG at an early stage that, for private reasons, he plans not to extend his contract, which expires in June 2024, in order to be able to devote himself to new tasks in the future.

The Supervisory Board of PWO AG has noted this with regret and was grateful for the timely information. In view of the longer-term scope of the pending measures and future tasks in the field of operations, the parties have agreed to terminate the employment contract with Mr. Obrecht by mutual consent already effective April 30, 2023.

The Supervisory Board would like to thank Mr. Obrecht for his many years of very successful service to PWO AG in various functions and for his great commitment to the internationalization of the Company. It wishes him all the best for the future.

Due to of the ongoing transformation in the mobility industry, PWO AG has also been consistently and continuously analyzing its structures throughout the entire Group for some time. The first changes were already initiated in 2021 with the focus on 3 globally active business segments and 5 regional location organizations on 3 continents for our 8 locations in Germany, the Czech Republic, China, Canada, and Mexico, as well as with a lean central organization at the German location in Oberkirch.

While our international sites have developed well in recent years, the German production site in Oberkirch continues to face considerable challenges, particularly because of the sharp rise in energy, personnel as well as material costs and the relocation of our customers' production operations abroad.

For some time now, in certain product areas it has not been possible to offset these location-related cost increases of our German production by means of productivity increases or adjustments to selling prices. As a result of the political and economic developments of the past year, the problem has again worsened considerably and is currently affecting above all the highly energy-intensive and wage-intensive production processes.

In the future, business fields and regional organizations are to be linked even more closely wherever possible. For this reason, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board have adopted an additional package of measures to further optimize corporate and site structures, simplify and accelerate decision-making processes, and systematically align the Oberkirch production site with future projects within and outside the mobility industry, which are mainly attributable to the "Components and Subsystems for Electrics & Electronic, Airbag & Chassis, Sustainable Energy & Others" business field. For this reason, the Executive Board, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, has decided to assign Mr. Valeri Kotljarow, head of this business unit, additionally - as of May 1, 2023 - the management of the Oberkirch production site. We wish Mr. Kotljarow continued success in his additional task.

In accordance with the resolution of the Supervisory Board of April 21, 2023, the Executive Board of PWO AG will be reduced from 3 to 2 members effective May 1, 2023.

Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG

The Executive Board

Contact:
Charlotte Frenzel

Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
T. +49 179 / 6904 237
M. charlotte.frenzel.ext.ma@pwo-group.com