On 23 January 2017, Recticel has announced that a severe fire incident had occurred in one of the production halls of its Czech Automotive Interiors subsidiary RAI Most s.r.o. For safety reasons, the premises have been closed by the authorities on that day and production has been stopped. As a consequence, Force Majeure has been declared to the affected customers of the Most plant.

Recticel is now in a position to confirm that no one has been hurt. Since Friday 27 January 2017, part of the premises is again accessible to engineers and contractors, and clean-up activities are ongoing.

Recticel and its customers, supported by the affected OEMs PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen, are cooperating to identify solutions and elaborate alternative production plans that will allow gradual restart of the production of parts, in order to minimize the disruption at the customers’ assembly plants.

RAI Most s.r.o. is covered by insurance policies which are in line with industry standards.

Recticel is currently not in a position to assess the financial consequences of this incident.

The plant in Most produces - on the basis of the patented Colo-Fast® and Colo-Sense® Lite spray technologies - elastomer interior trim parts for cars, such as skins for dashboard and door panels, which are sold to various Tier-1 automotive suppliers. In 2016, RAI Most s.r.o. realised sales of CZK 547 million (EUR 20.3 million) and employed 390 people.

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RECTICEL - Olympiadenlaan 2, B-1140 Brussels (Evere)

Press: 
Mr Olivier Chapelle
Tel: +32 2 775 18 01
chapelle.olivier@recticel.com

Investor relations: 
Mr Michel De Smedt
Mobile: +32 479 91 11 38
desmedt.michel@recticel.com

Recticel in a nutshell

Recticel is a Belgian Group with a strong European dimension, but it also operates in the rest of the world. Recticel employs 7,925 people in 98 establishments in 28 countries.

Recticel contributes to daily comfort with foam filling for seats, mattresses and slat bases of top brands, insulation material, interior comfort for cars and an extensive range of other industrial and domestic applications.

Recticel is the Group behind well-known bedding brands (Beka®, Lattoflex®, Literie Bultex®, Schlaraffia®, Sembella®, Swissflex®, Superba®, Ubica®, etc.) and GELTEX® inside. Within the Insulation sub-segment high-quality thermal insulation products are marketed under the well-known brands Eurowall®, Powerroof®, Powerdeck®, Powerwall® and Xentro®. Technological progress and innovation have led to breakthrough at the biggest names in the Automotive industry thanks to Colo-Fast®, Colo-Sense® and Colo-Sense Lite®.

In 2016 Recticel achieved combined sales of EUR 1.35 billion (IFRS 11 consolidated sales: EUR 1.05 billion).

Recticel (Euronext: REC – Reuters: RECTt.BR – Bloomberg: REC:BB) is listed on Euronext in Brussels.