NÜRNBERG (dpa-AFX) - The ailing automotive supplier Leoni is considering an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to get shareholders to approve a probably necessary capital cut. The annual general meeting will be postponed due to the financial problems, outgoing CEO Aldo Kamper announced on Tuesday. There have been constructive talks with the first major shareholders.

Following the collapse of the sale of a part of the company, Leoni is short 400 million euros for the repayment of debts. The company had stated that a new financing concept would not be possible without a capital cut. The banks are also to waive part of their claims. The capital cut will "largely dilute" the value of the shares held by the shareholders. Subsequently, a capital increase is to inject fresh money into the company.

The year 2022, which was difficult due to the Ukraine crisis and a shortage of materials, did not go badly in operational terms. Despite the sale of a part of the company, sales remained largely stable at around 5 billion euros, Kamper said. Before interest, taxes and special effects, he said, a profit (Ebit) of eleven million remained. That is too little to cover even the interest on the debt totaling around 1.5 billion euros. The profit would also be burdened as a special effect with impairments from the burst partial sale - probably amounting to a three-digit million sum.

For this year, Kamper expects a slight increase in sales and earnings before interest, taxes and special items in the high double-digit million range. However, all forecasts are dependent on the success of a refinancing. Kamper will only be working on this for a few more weeks - he is moving to lighting technology and semiconductor group AMS Osram at the end of March. The post would have to be filled on an interim basis from the remaining management body or from the Supervisory Board, it was said on Tuesday.

Leoni employs about 100,000 people in 28 countries. The company supplies the automotive industry with cable harnesses, among other products./dm/DP/men