Make-up of the edding Group Management Board to change: from 1st June, female representation will rise to 50%

The Management Board of the edding Group is set to change on 1st June 2024.

• Sönke Gooss (CFO) and Thorsten Streppelhoff (CBO) to leave the edding Group before the end of their tenure
• CFO role to be filled by Hadewych Vermunt
• CBO role to be shared between the CFO, CDO and CEO
• New Management Board to comprise four members: two women and two men

Sönke Gooss (CFO) to leave the edding Group – New CFO from 1^st June 2024 will be a woman

The Management Board of the edding Group is set to change on 1^st June 2024. Sönke Gooss, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the edding Group since 2004, has decided to leave the company before his tenure ends and to focus fully on his voluntary church work. To ensure an immediate handover, the Supervisory Board has appointed Hadewych Vermunt, formerly CFO at Delhaize in Belgium, to the Management Board from 1^st June 2024.

“We’re delighted to be able to welcome Hadewych Vermunt as CFO of the edding Group from 1^st June”, confirms Michael Rauch, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of edding AG. “Hadewych is a Dutch financial expert with extensive experience in leading financial roles in consumer goods companies as well as in retail in Europe and Asia – from Unilever to her most recent CFO role at Delhaize in Belgium. What was particularly important to us during the recruitment process was to find a CFO who shared our profit-for strategy – where profit is not the ultimate goal, but the means with which companies can exercise social and corporate responsibility. For Hadewych Vermunt, not only is this a deeply held conviction, it was also the key reason for joining the edding Group.”

“At the same time” adds Michael Rauch, “we would also like to express our regret that Sönke Gooss is leaving, and would like to thank him warmly for his outstanding work over the past 20 years within the edding Group. For two decades, he steered and strategically developed the Finance Department with great success. We wish him all the best for the future.”

Thorsten Streppelhoff (CBO) to explore new paths from 30^th June 2024

Thorsten Streppelhoff, Chief Business Officer (CBO) of the edding Group has decided to explore new pastures and has asked the Supervisory Board to terminate his contract on 30^th June 2024 so that he may continue his career outside the edding Group. The CBO role will not be refilled. Instead, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Per Ledermann, and the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) tandem, Fränzi Kühne and Boontham Temaismithi, will take on responsibility for managing the divisions.

Michael Rauch, Supervisory Chairperson of edding AG, adds: “A huge thank-you must go to Thorsten Streppelhoff, who has been pivotal in shaping the entire business development of the edding Group over the past 16 years. It is a huge regret that we will no longer be able to draw on his strategic expertise, his ability to get things done and his empathetic leadership style in the future. We wish him all the best and continued success in his career and personal life going forward.” 

50/50: New Management Board sees quartet comprising two women and two men

The new Management Board will comprise a quartet: the CFO, the CEO und the jointly held CDO post. The new Board represents strong development of the edding Group with its new profit-for strategy. It also stands for change and digital transformation. The edding Group has committed to many goals by 2026: as a medium-sized company, it is currently in the process of strategic transformation from a profit-oriented company (for profit) into a purpose-oriented (profit-for) company with environmental and social sustainability at its core. For a few years now, the Preamble to edding’s Articles of Association has stated that the company should encourage sustainable business development. The vision from the outset: to create and maintain a liveable world for future generations. The realignment of the company helps the edding Group take a step closer to that goal.

Michael Rauch, Supervisory Board Chairperson of edding AG, concludes: “we are delighted that, through the new set-up, we will have achieved the goal we set ourselves to achieve 50% female representation. This puts the edding Group way above average among German SMEs. As we look to the future, we are hugely positive and full of excitement, and we wish the new Management Board team comprising the CEO, Per Ledermann, CFO, Hadewych Vermunt, and the CDO tandem, Fränzi Kühne and Boontham Temaismithi, as well as all staff in the edding Group, much success.”

About the edding Group

The family-owned company was founded in Hamburg in 1960. In 2023, it earned consolidated sales of EUR 160.8 million and had an average staff count of 726. edding has more than six decades of expertise in the design, manufacture and distribution of reliable, high-end branded products. The company’s core values include social and environmental responsibility, with top priority given to fair and sustainable action. Wherever edding operates as a business, it seeks to encourage individuals to express and visualise their personality, their thoughts and their ideas.

Through its edding, Legamaster and Playroom brands, the company offers premium products and solutions for private and professional requirements. The edding brand includes markers and writing implements for the office and for industry, along with products to help unleash creativity and tattoo inks. Innovative digital applications round off the range. Legamaster develops and sells products for visual communication, such as flipcharts and whiteboards, as well as electronic solutions such as interactive e-Screens. The Playroom brand, part of the edding Group since 2021, offers innovative concepts and services to promote a culture of innovation within companies and organisations.

Ahrensburg, 18. April 2024

edding Aktiengesellschaft

The Management Board

____________________________

Contact:

edding AG, Sönke Gooss (CFO)

Bookkoppel 7, 22926 Ahrensburg

Phone 04102/808-200, Fax 04102/808-204

e-Mail: investor@edding.de