A.S. Création Tapeten AG / Key word(s): Legal Matter 25.02.2014 13:31 Dissemination of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following on from the search of the offices of A.S. Création Tapeten AG in November 2010 and the opening of administrative offence proceedings in November 2011, the Federal Cartel Office has now issued the anticipated penalty notices against the company and some of its employees. The company and the respective persons received these notices on February 25, 2014. The Cartel Office claims that they violated anti-trust law in the period from 2005 to 2008. During this time, price fixing practices are said to have occurred between A.S. Création Tapeten AG and other German wallpaper manufacturers. The penalty notices now issued relate to two of the originally five allegations. One allegation has been dropped by the Federal Cartel Office in the meantime. The Federal Cartel Office has not yet issued a final statement as to whether the two remaining allegations will continue to be pursued or whether they will be dropped as well. The penalty imposed on A.S. Création Tapeten AG amounts to EUR 10.0 million, while the penalties imposed on the responsible persons total EUR 0.5 million. A.S. Création Tapeten AG has released these persons from potential penalty payments with the consent of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. A.S. Création Tapeten AG and the persons affected intend to appeal against the penalty notices before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht), unless the pending final legal review of the notices and the underlying reasons suggests that an appeal is unlikely to be successful - which is currently not expected. A duty to pay the penalty will not arise before a legally enforceable penalty notice or a final verdict is issued. According to the first impression of the Managing Board of A.S. Création Tapeten AG and its legal counsel, the Federal Cartel Office has not sufficiently taken into account the material arguments that speak against a violation of anti-trust law. But even if the allegations raised by the Federal Cartel Office were correct, the amount of the penalties appears to be out of proportion. As reported in the ad-hoc announcement dated February 18, 2014, A.S. Création Tapeten AG has established, as a precautionary measure, a provision for the risks arising from the anti-trust proceedings in the context of the preparation of the 2013 financial statements due to the uncertainties generally arising from court proceedings. Based on the penalty notice now received, the amount of the provision of EUR 2.0 million will be reviewed once more in consultation with the company's lawyers and auditors. Should the reasons presented in the detailed penalty notices now received - which still need to be analysed in detail - be largely consistent with the previous statements by the Federal Cartel Office, the Managing Board assumes, in a first estimate, that it will not be necessary to increase the provision. Gummersbach, February 25, 2014 A.S. Création Tapeten AG The Managing Board Inquiries: Maik Krämer, Director of Finance and Controlling Phone: +49-2261-542 387 Fax: +49-2261-542 304 E-Mail: [email protected] 25.02.2014 DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: A.S. Création Tapeten AG Südstraße 47 51645 Gummersbach Germany Phone: +49 22 61 54 2-0 Fax: +49 22 61 54 2-3 04 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.as-creation.de ISIN: DE000A1TNNN5 WKN: A1TNNN Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Stuttgart End of Announcement DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------