Campine : Positive effects for Campine’s 2019 results

Regulated information – inside information – 10 February 2020 – 15:30

On November 7^th 2019, the General Court of the EU ruled in favour of Campine in the battery case 40018 by acknowledging its very limited participation in battery purchasing arrangements in the period 2009-2012. As a result of this verdict, Campine was awarded a refund of 3,9 mio € on the original fine. 

The deadline for appeal in this case expired end of January 2020 and the EC did not go into appeal in this matter, neither did Campine. Consequently, the refund of 3,9 mio € becomes final. Campine received the cash on its bank accounts in December 2019.

“As it is now clear that Campine is rather a collateral victim than a real participant in making market arrangements, we can leave this completely behind and focus on the future.” says CEO De Vos. “The extra cash will help us to speed up the expansion investment program for our recycling activities”.

The financial effect of this will be accounted for in the 2019 results. As the refund of the fine has no tax implications, Campine’s net result for 2019 will be considerably higher than expected in comparison to the normal operational returns originally forecasted for 2019.

Outlook 2020

Demand for Campine’s products in Specialty Chemicals showed an uptake at the start of 2020, whilst the battery sector remained stable. The LME lead prices, which had gained some ground, were impacted downwards with the general negative sentiment related to the corona epidemic. For the same reason antimony metal prices seem on the rise as a result of a potential global shortage if Chinese production does not get up to speed (China produces more than 50% of the worldwide need of antimony metal). As Campine purchases large quantities of its antimony metal outside China, it currently does not have supply risks.

Campine’s final results for the year 2019 will be published end of March 2020.

For further information you can contact Karin Leysen (tel. no [phone]) [e-mail]

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