| BANGKOK, THAILAND / BERLIN, GERMANY
– EQS Newswire – 8 October 2019 – The anchor shareholder of elumeo SE,
Ottoman Strategy Holdings (Suisse) S.A., sees the recent actions of the
management of the Berlin jewelry retailer as the cause for the deep crash of
the shares. The market had clearly reacted to the incomprehensible public
statements of Executive Director Bernd Fischer. Last Friday, the elumeo SE
share plummeted to a historic low of up to 0.63 euros per share.
After questionable decisions of the managers Wolfgang Boy�, Thomas Jarmuske and Bernd Fischer, the company is in free fall and pulls the subsidiaries along. According to a decision of the Thai Labour Court of 12 September 2019, former PWK employees who have received neither salary nor statutory severance pay can now dispose of the company’s property (file no. Ror 757/2662). The employees can now immediately enter the premises of PWK, identify all assets and offer them for sale to compensate for their unpaid salaries and severance payments. In connection with the financial decline of PWK Jewellery Company in Thailand
and the loss of over 600 jobs, Bernd Fischer, Wolfgang Boyé and Thomas
Jarmuske are being investigated in Thailand. Elumeo SE also has to deal with
multi-million lawsuits. In the complaint, the elumeo managers are accused of
having ordered jewellery worth over 30 million euros from the jewellery
manufacturer PWK, a subsidiary of the company elumeo, and of having paid only
a small fraction of this amount, which eventually led to the illiquidity of
PWK. Executive Director Bernd Fischer explained on behalf of his company and
management that their actions were basically not the cause of the decline of
the Thai jewellery manufacturer PWK Jewellery Company. He also stated that
PWK’s managing directors, who are facing long prison sentences due to elumeo’s
actions, were themselves responsible for this. Fischer had also publicly
proclaimed that the suspension of the investigations of the Berlin public
prosecutor’s office had now exhonated the leading trio Wolfgang Boyé, Thomas
Jarmuske and Bernd Fischer, who were being investigated for fraud and breach
of trust. In fact, the decision of the public prosecutor’s office in Berlin,
which was apparently based on highly distorted information, is not legally
binding. The complainants filed a complaint against the decision of the
prosecutor’s office. The assertion that the PWK directors themselves were responsible for their
prison sentences threatening them led to great surprise among those familiar
with Thai labour law. In fact, this statement was entirely negated by the
Thai Criminal Court, as on September 30, 2019, by an Indictment Order on the
Case Black Case No. Aor 1548/62, the Chanthaburi Provincial Prosecutor,
considered this to “be an offense against the law and the following
sections: Labour Protection Act BE 2541 Section 5, 17/1, 30, 56, 70, 118,
124, 144, 146, 151, 158 Labour Protection Act (Issue 2) BE 2551”. The Directors of PWK Jewelry Limited, merely employees of the company,
after being requested by elumeo Board Resolution to personally guarantee all company
loans to Thai Bank Siam Commercial Bank. In fact, Bernd Fischer, made sure,
in his Report to the Board, that there will be no exposure for elumeo,
clearly naming as Security for the loan “individual guarantees by
Directors of PWK. There is no further involvement or exposure like personal
guarantees or comfort letters of any other company of the elumeo Group as
well as no security in any other assets of PWK (i.e. stock, finished
goods)” During the Annual General Meeting on August 7th, 2019, elumeo’s
management explained the rapidly deteriorating financial situation of elumeo
to its shareholders and referred to the management’s efforts to have to repay
an explosive multi-million loan from Sparkasse Berlin despite poor sales. As
it became known from within the company, Bernd Fischer apparently had the
task of developing a “cash flow scenario” that would make it
possible to repay the threatening loan, regardless of the sacrifices
required. In view of the massively falling sales of elumeo SE, which sells far less
jewellery through distribution channels such as Juwelo TV than previously
announced, the jewellery manufacturing subsidiary PWK Jewellery proved to be
a burden for the group, which now wanted to get rid of it together with the
workers. However, this did not prove to be that easy, as under Thai labour
law every dismissed employee is entitled to a statutory severance payment. In
view of the financially disastrous situation and the threat of bankruptcy,
elumeo wanted to avoid these severance payments for over 600 employees. In
fact, Bernd Fischer directly instructed the PWK directors to “try to
determine how much personnel/costs could be reduced without severance
pay”. The directors informed Fischer that this was illegal in Thailand. Ottoman Strategy Holdings (Suisse) S.A. stated: “It is not surprising
that the markets are not responding positively to the attempts of elumeo’s
management to legitimize their questionable actions. The company lost more
than 95% of its share price, was on the verge of bankruptcy and had problems
repaying its bank loans and its suppliers. It is sued for tens of millions of
euros and its management is under criminal investigation (continued
investigation by the Thai police). Elumeo has lost its flagship factory with
PWK, more than 600 people are now unemployed and have been deprived of legal
compensation. The architect of this misery, Bernd Fischer, and the chairman
of the board, Boyé, are supported by the representative of Frankfurt
Performance Management (FPM), Raik Hoffmann”. The Ottoman Strategy
Holdings also points to the fact that both elumeo’s management and FPM had
prevented the appointment of a special auditor at previous general meetings
to investigate management’s business in recent years. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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