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GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft: GEA Optimizes Group Structure (news with additional features)

DGAP-News: GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Strategic
Company Decision
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft: GEA Optimizes Group Structure (news with
additional features)

21.08.2014 / 07:00

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GEA Optimizes Group Structure

- In the future, two Business Areas: "Equipment" and "Solutions"

- Sales and Services to be bundled into one organization per country

- Administrative functions will be clearly streamlined and centralized

- Expected annual savings until the end of 2017: at least EUR 100 million

Düsseldorf, August 21, 2014 - Within the scope of its "Fit for 2020"
initiative, the Executive Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft resolved to
introduce a new group structure. As part of the strategic realignment of
the company, this initiative provides an optimized organizational setup
with reduced structural complexity. Hence, it will allow for significant
cost reduction and fosters further growth. Following the recent divestiture
of the heat exchanger business, GEA is sharpening its focus on the customer
industries food and beverages from which the group meanwhile receives about
75 percent of its order intake.

In the course of 2015, GEA will bundle the development and manufacturing of
products and the provision of process solutions into the two new Business
Areas, "Equipment" and "Solutions" and report accordingly. The current
Segments will be integrated into these two Business Areas. This new
bundling into Business Areas of about equal strength focusing on their
respective successful business models promises to exploit more operational
synergies across technologies and applications and will promote functional
excellence through the standardization of processes.

All customer-oriented Sales and Service activities are to be combined on a
local level into one organization per country. With the merging of the
currently still large number of sales and service companies, local
competencies will be strengthened, existing synergy potentials realized
even more efficiently and the visibility of the common brand GEA will be
highlighted in the market. Anchoring the independent regional perspective
in the management of sales and services is also geared to accelerate the
systematic opening of new growth opportunities in emerging markets.

In addition, administrative functions will be streamlined, stronger
standardized and managed considerably more centrally in the future, which
besides cost savings, is designed to ensure uniform high process standards
globally. The Global Corporate Center will centrally manage all steering
and support functions which so far have mostly been organized decentrally