Montana Aerospace AG: Montana Aerospace AG successfully completes commissioning and first testing for three new extrusion plants

in Europe for the serial production of aircraft components.

Montana Aerospace Management

[ Fotos  ]

Reinach (pta013/01.07.2022/08:09 UTC+2)

Subheading: The Group's newly formed management see strong growth momentum among leading aircraft manufacturers and plans to benefit from its solid position as a vertically-integrated one-stop-shop supplier in future.

The robust increase in build rates at the major aircraft manufacturers (OEMs) is boosting the aircraft industry. The Montana Aerospace Group is also benefiting from this trend and stood firmly by its growth strategy even during the Corona crisis. In the past 48 months, the Group invested more than EUR 600 million in the expansion of its expertise and in production capacities. A large share of this volume went into the construction of the three new extrusion lines, which have successfully completed their testing phase and will make substantial contributions to sales and earnings in the future.

In addition to commissioning a drawn tube for special alloys and an extrusion line for titanium and hard metal profiles, one of Europe's largest and most efficient large-format extrusion lines for the production of aluminum wing structures up to 30 meters long also went into operation. These systems are already in the qualification phase at major OEMs and will start serial production by end of 2022.

"With the commissioning of our new facilities and the integration of the ASCO Group, we are ready for the next big step in our company's development. We are currently experiencing incredible growth momentum among leading aircraft manufacturers and are able to fully leverage our unique positioning as a vertically integrated one-stop-shop supplier. The aim is to gain further market shares based on manufacturing quality and our geographical proximity to OEMs," stated the new two co -CEOs Kai Arndt and Michael Pistauer. "With the expansion of our product range and production capacities, we are able to provide local-to-local services to our customers from the aerospace industry, and support them as best as possible with the implementation of their ambitious aircraft buildrates as well as with the achievement of their ESG goals."

By locating additional extrusion plants in Europe, Montana Aerospace is significantly reducing delivery times and shortening transport distances for its customers. This competitive advantage is already evident in order acquisition, with orders in hand already surpassing the target.

"By moving our manufacturing sites as close as possible to the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, we are significantly reducing the carbon footprint of our components," said Silvia Buchinger, who is responsible for the Group's ESG strategy on the Management Board of Montana Aerospace, and added: "The extrusion process saves us a significant quantity of valuable metal residue, and we also have an efficient recycling process that allows us to recycle 100% of our metal residues back into the production process."

The newly formed management team with two co-CEOs Kai Arndt and Michael Pistauer as well as CHRO Silvia Buchinger will take over the management of Montana Aerospace AG as planned effective as of today, and will keep the company on its growth path.

Markus Nolte former CEO and Herbert Roth former COO are leaving the Management Board at their own request as of today. Markus Nolte will continue to support the company in an advisory capacity and as a member of the Board of Alu Menziken. Herbert Roth will return to the parent company Montana Tech Components in a strategic position where he had worked successfully for more than 20 years.

"We have decided to add an experienced HR executive to the Management Board and appoint two co-CEOs to head the company to take full advantage of the opportunities available in all three business segments – Aerostructures, E-Mobility and Energy – with the aim of staying on track to growth. Our goal was to create an integrated aerospace supply chain, as it has been practiced in the automotive industry for many years. To this end, we brought in Markus Nolte, an experienced manager in this field, in 2019. We would like to thank Markus Nolte and Herbert Roth for their dedication and hard work. They contributed decisively to the success of Montana Aerospace in the past three very challenging years. Despite the difficult conditions in the past years due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as the 737 Max crisis, the entire team successfully took the company public, implemented a comprehensive investment program, completed strategic acquisitions and opened new plants in Romania and Vietnam. This defined the course for the future development of the Group. We are pleased that both will continue to support the company in an advisory capacity." said Michael Tojner and Tom Williams, co-Chairmen of the Board of Directors.

With 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry and management positions at Airbus and Premium Aerotec, Kai Arndt, who was appointed COO of the Group in December and CEO of the Montana Aerospace subsidiary ASCO in March, has taken over the strategic management of the "Aerostructures" business segment as co-CEO effective as of today. CFO Michael Pistauer was appointed as the second co-CEO and his remit is the strategic development of the E-Mobility and Energy segments, as well as retaining his position as Group CFO.

Silvia Buchinger is a new member of the Management Board. After career positions at Hewlett Packard, Telekom Austria, KUKA and the Theo Müller Group, among others, she
was recruited for Montana Aerospace in November 2021 and will be responsible for Human Resources, ESG and Corporate Communications and Marketing with immediate effect.

Press contact

Jürgen Beilein
Phone:+43 664 831 2 841
E-mail: communication@montana-aerospace.com
montana-aerospace.com

About Montana Aerospace AG

Montana Aerospace AG is a leading manufacturer of system components and complex assemblies for the aerospace industry, with worldwide engineering and manufacturing operations. The Company has approximately 6,800 highly skilled employees at 32 locations on four continents – designing, developing and producing ground-breaking technologies for tomorrow's aerospace, E-Mobility and energy industries made of aluminium, titanium, composite, copper and steel.

Disclaimer

Statements contained herein may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of the words "may", "will", "should", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "project", "goal", "aim" or "target" or the negative of these words or other variations of these words or comparable terminology.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's or its industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake publicly to update or revise any forward-looking statement that may be made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Emitter:	Montana Aerospace AG Alte Aarauerstrasse 11 5734 Reinach Switzerland
Contact Person:	Jürgen Beilein
Phone:	+43 664 831 2 841
E-Mail:	communication@montana-aerospace.com
Website:	www.montana-aerospace.com
ISIN(s):	CH1110425654 (Share)
Stock Exchange(s):	SIX Swiss Exchange