ANNUAL REPORT 2011 A.S. CRÉATION TAPETEN AG

GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT
56
demand for raw materials as a result of the
increased global output, the Managing Board
considers the risk of insufficient availability to
be higher than in the past.
No major risks exist in production and logistics.
The production plants represent the state of
the art, necessary capital expenditures in
replacements and new capacity are made on
an ongoing basis and can be funded from the
company’s cash flow.
As outlined in the analysis of the financial situation,
the traditionally strong cash flow and
the robust financial structure mean that no
finance and liquidity bottlenecks are expected.
Due to the specific structure of the A.S. Création
Group, interest rate or currency hedges and
financial derivatives play only a minor role.
Such hedges are generally taken out only for
specific underlying transactions. For details,
please refer to No. 30 in the Notes to the
consolidated financial statements.
A potential risk for A.S. Création arises from
the current investigation by the German and
French anti-trust authorities, which are conducting
separate proceedings to find out whether
there have been agreements in restraint of
competition in the wallpaper industry. On
November 30, 2010, the Federal Cartel Office
searched the premises of A.S. Création
Tapeten AG in Gummersbach-Derschlag and
of four other German wallpaper manufacturers
and seized documents. On the same day, the
French anti-trust authorities searched the
premises of eight wallpaper dealers in France,
including two companies of the A.S. Création
Group, namely SCE – Société de conception
et d’édition SAS and MCF Investissement SAS.
In November 2011, Germany’s Federal Cartel
Office formally notified the company that
administrative offence proceedings have been
opened and submitted a letter of accusation,
i.e. a list of the offences of which the company
is accused. The Cartel Office has raised several
allegations of what it perceives to have constituted
anti-competitive behaviour by A.S. Création
Tapeten AG and individual company executives.
While most of these allegations essentially
relate to the period from 2005 to 2010, some
are related to a period prior to that. Apart from
A.S. Création Tapeten AG, administrative
offence proceedings have been opened against
four other renowned German wallpaper manufacturers
as well as the German Association of
Wallpaper Manufacturers (VDT). As a leniency
applicant, who is exempt from potential fines,
Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch GmbH & Co. KG
has caused the investigations by the Federal
Cartel Office. Besides raising allegations of
price fixing in the context of the German
Association of Wallpaper Manufacturers, the
Federal Cartel Office has addressed working
groups which have been established between
the wallpaper manufacturers in conjunction