Bastei Lübbe holds virtual General Meeting and introduces new management team

Press release

Bastei Lübbe holds virtual General Meeting and introduces new management team

- New management team presents itself to shareholders for the first time

- Resignation of the former CEO Carel Halff

- Distribution of a dividend for the future is intended

Cologne, 16 September 2020 - Bastei Lübbe AG, listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), held its first virtual Annual General Meeting for the past financial year 2019/2020 in Cologne on 15 September 2020. The shareholders approved all of the management's proposals on the agenda with significant majorities.

In their review of the 2019/2020 financial year, the Management Board and Supervisory Board emphasised the two-part picture. On the one hand, the continuing operations of book publishing and novel booklets once again achieved respectable results, while on the other hand there were once again high extraordinary expenses in connection with the Daedalic investment. With the almost complete sale of this investment from the failed strategy of the past, the company can consider the restructuring phase as completed. The company is out of debt and starts a new phase of growth and development with a new management board.

The actions of the members of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board for the 2019/2020 financial year were approved by a large majority. The resolution on the approval of a settlement agreement with former board members was approved by 99.95 percent of the capital present. The company will receive EUR 1.27 million from this settlement. Ebner Stolz GmbH & Co KG, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, Cologne, were appointed as auditors and group auditors for the financial year 2020/2021.

At the Annual General Meeting the new members of the Managemnet Board presented themselves to the shareholders for the very first time. Simon Decot has already been with the company for several years and has been member of the Executive Board as head of programme since 1 April 2020, Sandra Dittert has been member of the Executive Board since 1 August as head of marketing and sales, and Joachim Herbst, chief financial officer and spokesman of the management board since the end of the Annual General Meeting.

Carel Halff ended his term of office on the Board of Management at this Annual General Meeting and emphasised: "The past three years have been characterised by reorganisation and restructuring. We have had to overcome a number of challenges during this period to get the ship back on course. Looking back, it can be said that we have mastered this well as a team and thus laid the foundations for a successful future. It was an exciting and at the same time thrilling three years, which I will remember positively. I wish the new management team all the best and every success".

Robert Stein, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, expressed his thanks to Carel Halff and to Klaus Kluge and Ulrich Zimmermann, members of the Board of Management who had left earlier.

Joachim Herbst notes: "Sandra Dittert, Simon Decot and I are looking forward to our upcoming tasks and thank our predecessors for handing over a well-ordered house to us, so that we can now open a new chapter together with the employees and continue to write the success story of this traditional company .

The presentation by the Board of Management and the results of the voting are available on the Internet at https://www.luebbe.com in the Investor Relations section.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is a German publishing house based in Cologne, which specializes in the production of books, audio books and eBooks with fiction and popular science content. The company's core business also includes periodically published novel booklets. With a total of twelve publishing houses and imprints, the group of companies currently has around 3,600 fiction, non-fiction, children's and youth books on offer. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction, the company has been one of the market leaders in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is an innovation driver in the field of digital media and exploitation channels, among other things through the production of thousands of audio and eBooks.

With annual sales of approx. EUR 82 million (financial year 2019/2020), Bastei Lübbe AG is one of the largest medium-sized publishing companies in Germany. The shares of the company have been listed in the Prime Standard segment on the Frankfurt stock exchange (GSIN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) since 2013. Further information is available at www.luebbe.com.


Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Head of Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 221 / 82 00 28 50
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de