Press release

WashTec: Change of the management board; results of the first half of the year meet expectations

- Change of management board shall increase speed of repositioning

- At the half-year mark, revenues total EUR 142.6m and are 1.5% higher than prior year, slow-down in the second quarter

- EBIT declines from EUR 6.1m to EUR 5.2m due to volatile environment in Core Europe; results improve in North America

- Net cash flow increases very significantly from EUR 5.4m to EUR 11.1m

Augsburg, July 27, 2012
The WashTec Group management board is being changed. Thorsten Krüger, spokesman of the management board, and Houman Khorram, CFO, have resigned on their own request effective July 31, 2012. The Company wishes to thank the members of the management board for their work and high personal commitment. Reasons for the change are different views on the speed of the strategic repositioning of the Company. Michael Busch, long-term chairman of the supervisory board of WashTec AG will be delegated from the supervisory board to the management board according to sec. 105 II of the German Securities Act (Aktiengesetz) until a new spokesman of the management board has been designated. For the time being, he will serve as sole board member. For the term of the delegation, Massimo Pedrazzini has been elected as new chairman of the supervisory board while Jens Große-Allerman will serve as deputy chairman.

The half-year results for the WashTec Group generally meet expectations. Group revenues rose slightly in the first half of the year by 1.5% to EUR 142.6m (H1 2011: EUR 140.5m), although revenue growth weakened in the second quarter. In certain regions of Core Europe, market-related revenue decreases were reported, while revenues in North America and Emerging Europe performed above expectations. The market decline in Core Europe also put a strain on earnings performance. EBIT (EUR 5.2m), for example, was EUR 0.9m lower than last year's figure of EUR 6.1m. When making comparisons with previous year figures, it should be noted that the previous year result contains adjustments pursuant to IAS 8 because of accounting errors discovered in North America. The adjusted EBIT also equaled EUR 5.2m and was thus EUR 1.4m below the previous year. The Group was able for the most part to off-set the collective wage and raw material price increases and a rise in other procurement costs with savings effects.

Repositioning of North America proceeding on schedule - strategic projects in Europe have been launched
The repositioning of the North American operation with a focus on cost-cutting and restructuring is proceeding according to schedule and has led to significant improvements at the half-year mark. The fact that the market there has shown first signs of a slight improvement during the reporting period is encouraging. In Europe, the projects that were defined as part of the strategic repositioning announced at the beginning of 2012 have been launched in the areas of innovation, sales, service, productivity, and internationalization.

Balance sheet quality remains high
Thanks to an efficient management of working capital, net cash flow improved in the first half of 2012 from EUR 5.4m to EUR 11.1m. The cash flow was used to pay down the net finance debt (net bank debt plus long-term and short-term finance leasing debt) from EUR 24.4m as of December 31, 2011 to EUR 17.5m. Gearing declined from 0.32 to 0.22. The equity ratio rose from 38.6% to 40.4%.

The detailed half year report, reviewed by PwC, will be published on August 7, 2012 on the Company's website: www.washtec.de.

Summary of key financial information for the Group:

* Comparative figures adjusted per IAS 8
**: Net finance debt divided by equity

Information on WashTec:
The WashTec Group has its registered offices in Augsburg, Germany, and is the leading supplier of innovative solutions for the car wash business worldwide. WashTec employs more than 1,600 persons and has its own subsidiaries in the core markets of Europe, the United States and Canada as well as in China and Australia. WashTec also has independent sales partners in roughly 60 countries.

Contact:
Corporate Communications
WashTec AG
Argonstraße 7
86153 Augsburg
Tel.: +49 (0)821 - 55 84 - 0