Firstextile AG : » Ms. Wei Chen is new Marketing Director at Firstextile // more...

Press release

12 March 2013

Ms. Wei Chen is new Marketing Director at Firstextile

• Proven marketing and branding expert with long-term experience in the high-end fashion and lifestyle product industry joins Firstextile AG

• Management sees Ms. Chen as "a valuable asset to the company's continuing growth"

Frankfurt, 12 March 2013 - Firstextile AG (FT8) today announced the recruitment of Ms. Wei Chen as Marketing Director beginning from 1 March 2013. Wei Chen has more than ten years branding and marketing experience in the high-end fashion and lifestyle product industry. She worked in

successive similar positions for various leading European luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton and

Hermès.

Firstextile AG is the holding of the leading Chinese producer of high-end yarn-dyed fabrics and provider of fabrics and shirts designed for uniforms and of its own branded premium men's shirts. In her new role as Marketing Director, Wei Chen's responsibilities include the development and implementation of branding and marketing strategies across all of the company's various
business lines to support the company's further growth. Wei Chen reports directly to Fred Yang, founder and CEO of Firstextile.
Maggie Wang, Management Board member and IR Officer of Firstextile, comments: "We are pleased to welcome Wei Chen to join us as an experienced and renowned branding and marketing expert. Her experience and proven ability is a valuable asset to the company's continuing growth, especially in our most profitable segment, the shirts segment, where we sell premium men's shirts under our own brands 'Firstextile' and 'Varpum'."
Prior to join Firstextile AG, Wei Chen's career highlights include four years as Regional Retail Marketing Manager for Louis Vuitton in Hong Kong, where she managed retail marketing activities in 14 Asian countries, two years as International Business Manager for Hermès in Paris and two years as COO of SHANG XIA, a Chinese Luxury brand established by Hermès, where she created the brand together with the CEO.
Ms. Wei Chen is holder of a MBA's degree from INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaire) and a Bachelor's degree from the Chinese Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. She is fluent in English, French and Mandarin and has experience working in both Europe and Greater China.

CONTACT HENRYK DETER CLAUDIUS KRAUSE

cometis AG

PHONE [phone] PHONE [phone] Unter den Eichen 7 / Gebäude D FAX [phone] FAX [phone] 65195 Wiesbaden [e-mail] [e-mail] www.cometis.de
Company profile
Firstextile is the leading manufacturer of high-end yarn-dyed fabric in the Chinese market with a market share of approx. 9% in terms of volume in 2011. It also markets fabric and shirts specifically designed for uniforms used by Chinese government institutions and enterprises, as well as its own branded men's shirts with the two brands "Varpum" and "Firstextile" for the Chinese premium market segment. The company operates modern production facilities in
Jiangyin near Shanghai, China, which is one of the main centres of the Chinese textile industry and it focuses particularly on high product quality. As the company already operates almost at its maximum capacity it plans to use the net proceeds from the successful completion of the IPO on
12 November 2012 and further cash flows to double the current after-finishing capacity of 36 million metres to 72 million metres in order to meet future demand. At the same time, weaving capacity is intended to be expanded from short of 11 million metres to 27 million metres and dyeing capacity from 7,900 tonnes to 15,800 tonnes.
Overview over preliminary financials 2012 (in EUR m):

	2012	2011	Change
Revenue Group Total	179.5	131.7	36.3%
Revenue Fabric Segment	113.3	101.2	11.9%
Revenue Uniform Segment	46.7	17.9	160.8%
Revenue Shirt Segment	19.5	12.6	55.1%
Gross Profit	56.4	40.7	38.5%
EBIT	40.9	28.9	41.5%
Net Profit	34.3	23.9	43.4%
EPS (in EUR)	3.4	2.4	40.2%

The guidance for the current financial year 2013 will be published together with the final financial figures 2012. You may download the full 2012 annual report from the company's website at www.firstextile.de, within the "Investor Relations" area, starting from 23 April 2013.

CONTACT HENRYK DETER CLAUDIUS KRAUSE

cometis AG

PHONE [phone] PHONE [phone] Unter den Eichen 7 / Gebäude D FAX [phone] FAX [phone] 65195 Wiesbaden [e-mail] [e-mail] www.cometis.de