Corona virus: Recent information

1. What effects does the corona crisis currently have on Ekosem-Agrar's business activities?

At present, we do not yet see any significant impact on our operating business. As far as we can observe for our direct environment, there are currently still relatively few cases. However, after the capital Moscow, which is particularly affected, introduced strict initial restrictions, similar measures have now been taken by all other regions of Russia. The work-free week with continued wage payment, originally valid from 30 March to 5 April 2020, has been extended to 30 April 2020 for the whole of Russia. The aim of this measure is to slow down the spread of the virus and not to overburden the healthcare system. Ekosem-Agrar, as a systemically important agricultural company and important producer of food, is subject to exemptions in order to ensure the supply of food to the population. For this reason, all our operations are currently continuing to operate regularly, albeit with the necessary preventive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Since, according to the current state of knowledge, there is no evidence of transmission of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 to or via animals, we do not currently see any particular risks with regard to our herd of cattle either.

2. What precautions has the management taken to protect the workforce?

Our employees receive all necessary information regarding recommended measures for hygiene and prevention of possible infection. This applies both to the administrative functions and to the employees in the facilities and dairies. The administrative functions in particular work mainly in the home office.

We have also taken additional measures in our dairy cow facilities with regard to the division of shifts. For example, we make sure that the four shifts per day are strictly separated in each farm. In addition, the staff working at the same time in the facility is subdivided again so that there is no contact between the staff in the barn and those in the milking parlour. The aim of these measures is to ensure that as few employees as possible have to be sent to domestic quarantine in the event of an infection. There are graduated emergency plans in place for the event that employees on the operations become infected, in order to continue to guarantee the operation in the best possible way.

3. What are the management's expectations regarding the effects of the corona crisis on the development of sales revenues and earnings in FY 2020?

As a nationally operating food producer without foreign sales markets, we assume that we will be able to continue our business as normal for the most part. Possible medium-term effects depend heavily on the duration of the current state of emergency and, in our view, cannot yet be reliably predicted.