Under the leadership of Board of Director Chairman Dr. J. Friedrich Sauerländer the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting of Swissmetal Holding AG took place today at the company’s headquarters in Dornach. The 41 shareholders present represented 42.7 % of the share capital. All of the Board of Directors’ motions were accepted with a clear majority of share votes.

The Shareholders Meeting approved the 2009 annual report and annual financial statements. The annual result of CHF -14.1 million was carried over to the new accounts statement. Shareholders also absolved company representatives on the Board of Directors. The CHF 29.8 million of approved capital stipulated in the statutes was reauthorized. PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Basel, was reconfirmed as statutory auditor for another year.

Five of the six members of the Board of Directors, including Dr. Jürg Henz, Dr. Dominik Köchlin, Max Locher, Dr. J. Friedrich Sauerländer and Ferdinand Stutz, were reconfirmed by a clear majority of shareholders for another one-year term in accordance with the proposals made by the Board. Dr. Roger Bühler, a member of the Board since 30 June 2006, did not present himself for reelection. Laxey Partners Ltd., which is Swissmetal’s largest individual shareholder, informed Swissmetal’s Board of Directors that it intends to divest itself of its Swissmetal participations in due course. In order to avoid a possible conflict of interest, as a representative of Laxey Partners Ltd, Mr. Roger Bühler has decided to resign from his position as member of Swissmetal’s Board of Directors. The Board extends its thanks to Mr. Bühler for his constructive and dedicated collaboration with this body during the last four years and for his extremely valuable contributions.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year a positive development in sales has become apparent in nearly all market segments and regions, and sales are over budget forecasts. Swissmetal expects this trend to continue during the course of the year.