• Dipl.-Ing. Achim Plate leaves the company after seven years on the Board by mutual, amicable agreement
• Dr. Gerold Linzbach will foster the development of D+S despite difficult market environment as new CEO
• The current profit-and-loss forecast for 2009 cannot be met due to the prevailing uncertainty in the market

HAMBURG. October 5, 2009. In a scheduled meeting held today, the supervisory board of D+S europe AG (ISIN DE0005336804), Hamburg appointed Dr. Gerold Linzbach as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to the Board of D+S europe AG as of October 6, 2009. Dr. Linzbach, 53, had previously been CEO of the MDAX-listed company Symrise and successfully floated the company on the stock exchange in 2007. He had previously held various executive positions at companies such as McKinsey, Hoechst AG and Celanese Acetate LLC. As part of the process of enhancing the international profile of the company, Joachim Reinhardt, former Chief Financial Officer of the DMAX-listed company Hugo Boss, was appointed to the D+S Board at the beginning of July 2009. 

“With his industry experience, Dr. Linzbach is the ideal person to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer for the next stage of D+S AG’s development and to steer the communication center segment of D+S AG in a challenging competitive situation on its course of further growth, leading the e-commerce segment through processes of change towards an enhanced international profile”, says Klaus Thiemann, chairman of the supervisory board of D+S AG. Dr. Gerold Linzbach added: “D+S already occupies a leading position in its core markets. I am looking forward to extending the company’s range of operations and further improving existing solutions in cooperation with D+S’s 7,000-odd employees.”

Following today’s resolution, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of D+S, Mr. Achim Plate, 50, is leaving the company by mutual and amicable agreement as of October 5, 2009 due to differences regarding future strategy for the further development of the company. He will continue to be associated with the company in an advisory capacity. Achim Plate had joined the D+S Board in August 2002. In January 2003, he became chairman of the Board and turned the communication center company, with its then 1,800 employees, into a leading service group for e-commerce and customer contact management with roughly 7,000 employees.  

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Plate for his extraordinary achievements and for the enormous personal commitment with which he has successfully furthered the development of D+S AG over the years. It was with great skill and entrepreneurial foresight that he turned a top-10 call center into a market leading service group for e-commerce and customer contact management“, said supervisory board chairman Klaus Thiemann.

Despite the global financial and economic crisis, which has left its mark on D+S AG as well in the current business year, and the decreasing returns resulting from it, D+S remained steadfastly committed to its growth and investment course in the first half of 2009. The Board expects an increase in turnover of more than EUR 30m (that is, in the two-figure percentage range) in 2009.

However, in the course of their ongoing review of business trends, both the Management Board and supervisory board today have come to the conclusion that, due to the continuing difficult market situation, the profit and loss forecast for the business year 2009 cannot be achieved. The company has seen a significant drop in EBITDA compared with 2008 as a result of lower margins. On account of the prevailing uncertainty in the market no further specific profit and loss forecast will be issued.

For the current quarter - not least in the framework of risk management measures - the company envisages an increasing demand for uncollectible receivables and value adjustments. These result mainly from outstanding claims against third parties which are currently not collectible and from the regulatory environment which is currently unfavorable for D+S AG, in particular the tightening of the telemarketing laws including the amendment of the Federal Data Protection Act. All extraordinary changes in revaluation have been agreed with the auditor. They do not lead to any negative impact on cash resources in the balance for 2009 and will be only partially recognized as expenses in the following years. Moreover, a positive effect on cash assets is expected due to value added tax refund claims and the reduction of other corporate taxes for the year 2009 in the following years.

D+S AG will present its business figures for the third quarter of 2009 on November 13, 2009.