Rieter Sales Fall 20 Percent in 2008

Winterhur, Switzerland, March 24, 2009--Rieter Group sales for 2008 declined by 20% to $2.8 biillon.

The firm said a corporate loss of $315 million is mainly attributable to special charges due to restructuring provisions and goodwill impairment as well as the financial result.

Rieter said it recorded significantly lower orders received, sales, operating results and net results. It said the drop in demand has been unprecedented in its intensity and rapidity. For the first time, both divisions – the textile machinery and the automotive component supply business – are affected simultaneously.

Rieter said it launched an extensive restructuring program in summer 2008 in order to adjust to the new structural and cyclical conditions prevailing on the market.

In the textile machinery business a significant slowdown on the world market started in spring 2008, and this continued and intensified in the second half of the year.

At the end of 2008 the Rieter Group employed a workforce of 14 183 worldwide, some 9% less than at the end of the previous year. Rieter also terminated the employment contracts of some 1 500 temporary employees; these jobs are not included in the workforce totals stated above.

The trend of business at Rieter Textile Systems in 2008 was dominated by a cyclical downturn on the world market for textile machinery.

While the sales trend at Textile Systems in the first six months continued to benefit from the high level of orders in hand at the beginning of the year, the low volume of orders and delays in the acceptance of machines by customers in the second half of the year had hurt the business.