Investor Relations

Uncertainties about the macroeconomic situation and the debt crisis of a number of countries caused extreme volatility in the equities market throughout the whole of the first half year of 2010. Following a short upswing at the start of the year, news about the possible national bankruptcy of Greece triggered an initial phase of consolidation. The subsequent recovery was followed by a second countermovement from the end of April onwards. This development was attributable to the dramatic price hikes of many raw materials and anxiety resurfacing about the economic situation in the eurozone. No clear trend emerged during the remaining reporting period because of the persistent uncertainty. By June 30, 2010, the DAX had remained virtually unchanged overall as against its closing price at year-end 2009; the MDAX gained just under 7 %.

The price performance of the Salzgitter share was mainly influenced by two factors in the first six months of 2010: macroeconomic uncertainties about the issue of Greece and dramatic increases in the price of raw materials. After a good start, our share peaked as early as January 11, at € 74.32. In the following two months it generally tracked the DAX. As from the end of March, the drastic shift in contractual structures between producers of raw materials and steel, the resulting great uncertainties about how the prices of ore and coal would develop and possibilities for compensation via higher sales prices, exerted strong pressure on steel equities. As a result, the price of the Salzgitter share fell to € 47.50 on June 9 and has subsequently mirrored the overall market which was characterized by high volatility. Having closed at € 48.99 on June 30, the Salzgitter share shed around 28 % in the reporting period compared with its price at year-end 2009.

Towards the end of the reporting period, Deutsche Börse AG decided to admit HeidelbergCement AG on June 21, 2010, in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the composition of the index. Consequently, Salzgitter AG became part of the MDAX again.

The average daily turnover of our share on German stock exchanges was just under 675,000 units in the first six months of 2010. In comparison with the previous year’s period, the trading volume has therefore fallen by around 15 %. On June 30, 2010, Salzgitter AG came first in the MDAX index ranking of Deutsche Börse and took 11th place measured in terms of free-float market capitalization, which came to € 1.9 billion.

As part of our capital market communication, we presented our company at investor conferences and road shows in New York, Frankfurt and London in the first six months of the financial year 2010. In addition, analysts and investors visited the plants in Salzgitter, Peine and Muelheim an der Ruhr. In mid-May, the results of the first quarter of 2010 were presented as part of a telephone conference and discussed with the capital market. We are delighted to have won 8th place in the DAX in the context of the Capital Investor Relations Prize 2010, organized by the magazine Capital and DVFA, and that, in respect of the quality of our investor relations work, the participants in this ranking have placed us in the upper third of all DAX equities for the second time in a row.

In the analyst survey recently conducted the Salzgitter share was assessed by 24 banks which gave it the following ratings (as per June 30, 2010): 8 buy/outperform, 11 hold/market perform, 5 sell/underperform.

Salzgitter AG’s portfolio of treasury shares came to 5,798,239 as per June 30, 2010. As against December 31, 2009 (5,795,252 units), there was an increase of 2,987 units. Members of the workforce received 13 shares as a bonus for improvement suggestions. Conversely, we purchased 3,000 shares at an average price of € 47.79.

		H1 2010	H1 2009
Nominal capital as of 30/06/	€ million	161.6	161.6
Number of shares as of 30/06/	million	60.1	60.1
Number of shares outstanding as of 30/06/	million	54.3	54.1
Market capitalization as of 30/06/ 1)2)	€ million	2,660	3,376
Price as of 30/06/ 1)	€	48.99	62.42
High   01/01/ - 30/06/ 1)	€	74.32	71.62
Low   01/01/ - 30/06/ 1)	€	47.50	40.22
Security identification number	620200
ISIN	DE0006202005