Steelcase Provides Update on Status of Operations, Selected Financial Metrics and Liquidity

• Manufacturing capacity ramping up to fulfill significant backlog of customer orders
• Temporary reductions to pay and hours for salaried employees partially eased
• Recent order patterns reflect significant declines compared to the prior year
• Liquidity remains very strong at approximately $774 million as of May 1

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) announced today it has called back most of its manufacturing workforce from temporary layoffs as government restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to ease.  All of the company’s manufacturing and distribution locations around the world are open, with some locations in the process of scaling up capacity levels and a few locations continuing to be subject to government restrictions that prevent them from operating at normal capacity.  Many office and showroom locations are also beginning to reopen, although some remain restricted under stay-at-home mandates.

As of May 1, 2020, the company’s backlog of customer orders was approximately $700 million, or approximately 23% higher than the prior year, as government mandates significantly limited the company’s ability to manufacture products and fulfill orders throughout much of the world over the last two months.  The company expects to manufacture and ship most of its current backlog by the end of July.

As the company increases production and begins to reopen offices and showrooms around the world, the company announced that it is easing the reductions in pay and hours implemented in March and April across much of its global salaried workforce.  In the U.S., the company has eased the pay and hour reductions for most of its salaried employees from 50% to 20%, and the company will continue to pay the full cost of employee health insurance premiums while the temporary pay reductions are in effect.  Similar pay and/or work hour reductions are in place globally and in some cases are also being eased from previous reductions, with variations on a country-by-country basis.  The company eased the reductions in base pay for the company’s CEO from a $1 annual salary to a 50% base pay reduction and for the company’s other executive officers from a 60% reduction to a 20% reduction.  The company’s Board of Directors also has lowered the reduction in their cash retainer from a 100% reduction to a 50% reduction.