Investor Relations

Capital market and the performance of the Salzgitter stock

Sources: Xetra closing prices DBAG, Datastream STEELEU

After a low-key start to the stock market year 2009 caused by huge uncertainty about how the economy would develop, the beginning of the second quarter saw sentiment brighten in the stock market, a mood which persisted throughout the reporting period and beyond. Although trade began its hesitant recovery in April – but not in all sectors – the uptrend in the stock markets remained consistent and in fact strong. As compared with year-end quotations 2008, the DAX, for instance, had risen by no less than 18 % and the MDAX by even as much as 31 %.

Throughout the whole reporting period, the Salzgitter share was particularly affected by the varying and temporary trends in the stock market attributable to the cyclical sensitivity of the steel and tubes markets. Based on the 2008 year-end price (€ 55.0), and to the exception of a short phase of euphoria in February, our share tracked the DAX through into May. The first signs of recovery in order intake in a number of customer segments and the gradual improvements in the economic situation then resulted in a steady outperformance through to the end of August, a trend which peaked on August 4 at a temporary high for the year of € 73.40, after which the share price performance returned to the level of the DAX again. At the start of September, positive news caused the shares to depart from the leading indices, a phase that lasted only three weeks this time. The overall performance of our share came to 19 % in the first three quarters of 2009, and closed on September 30 at € 65.50. Taking account of the dividend reduction following the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 27, performance came to as much as 22 %.

In the first nine months of the financial year 2009, the daily turnover of the Salzgitter share on German stock exchanges averaged around 760,000 units, which is some 10 % higher than the previous-year's figure. In terms of stock market turnover, the Salzgitter AG took 25th place in the index ranking of Deutsche Börse AG as per September 30, 2009. Free-float market capitalization came to € 2.6 billion, which puts the company at 30th place in the DAX.

As part of its capital communications work in the first nine months of this year, Salzgitter AG presented itself at a number of investor conferences and road shows in New York, London, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Zurich. In addition, analysts and investors visited the plants in Salzgitter and Peine. The results of the financial year 2008 and of the first half year 2009 were presented to the capital market and discussed in detail at wellattended analyst presentations in Frankfurt and London, while the figures for the first quarter 2009 were presented and discussed in depth by way of a telephone conference.

According to the latest analyst survey we recently carried out, the Salzgitter share was assessed by 31 banks which gave it the following ratings (as per September 30, 2009): 10 buy/outperform, 11 hold/market perform, 10 sell/underperform.

Treasury Shares

Salzgitter AG’s portfolio of treasury shares came to 5,795,262 as per September 30, 2009. As against December 31, 2008 (6,009,684 units), there was a decrease of 214,422 units. All in all, 250,022 shares were dispensed in the reporting period and used as follows: 250,000 shares at an average price of € 62.03 in the context of the acquisition of a participating interest and 22 shares were received by members of the workforce as a bonus for improvement suggestions. By reverse, a total of 35,600 shares were purchased at an average price of € 60.53.

Information for investors

		9M 2009	9M 2008
Nominal capital as of 30/09/	€ million	161.6	161.6
Number of shares as of 30/09/	million	60.1	60.1
Number of shares outstanding as of 30/09/	million	54.3	54.1
Market capitalization as of 30/09/1) 2)	€ million	3,557	3,827
Price as of 30/09/1)	€	65.50	70.76
High 01/01/ - 30/09/1)	€	73.40	143.88
Low 01/01/ - 30/09/1)	€	40.22	68.50
Security identification number	620200
ISIN	DE0006202005

1) All data based on prices from XETRA trading
2) Calculated on the basis of the respective closing price at the end of the per iod multiplied by the number of shares outstanding per this date