Annual Report 2011

INTRODUCTION FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 3 Such an event is usually a great shock for a company and its consequences can at times be disastrous. In our case, our employees' teamwork demonstrated their excellence, thanks to which the fire was extinguished in a relatively-short time.The resulting damage was sizable, but we managedtoresumeproductionafterjustseventeendays.Iwouldliketothankallthosewhoparticipatedinextinguishingthefireinanyway. All in all, 2011 was a successful year for our Company.We started to prepare new investments related to the modernisation of the steel works, which should be implemented by next year. I believe that this step will allow the Company to progress in the highly-competitive fight for customers:thenewtechnologywillbeoftheworld'shighestquality,whichwillenableustoexpandourproductrange. DearShareholders, We are assessing the last year while commemorating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of our joint-stock company, and I can definitely say that these have been years of success. We have reached a firm position among the most prominent producers of seamless tubes in Europe andintheworld,andourprogressresultsmainlyfromthehighqualityofourproducts. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Board of Directors, the employees of our joint-stock company, our suppliers, our customers and all those who have in any way participated in the life of the Company for the achieved economic results – not only in production, but also in the servicesandsupportprovidedbyoursubsidiaries. IbelievewehavecreatedasolidfoundationfortheCompany'sfutureoperations;however,Ihavetosaythatthepresenttimesareratherdifficult considering the macroeconomic situation in Europe and in the world, and this year will not be easy.The Slovak government is preparing many measuresdirectlyaffectingourjoint-stockcompany.AlthoughIamfullyawarethatthisisinevitable,Icannothelpbutaddthatthelackoffunds suffered by our country was caused by politicians who did not act as good managers. On the other hand, the senior management of the joint- stockcompanyaswellasitsmiddlemanagementandmanagementofallsubsidiariesactedasgoodmanagersandtheydeservepraise.Iassure you all that the Board of Directors of the joint-stock company is aware of its strengths and weaknesses, and it will do everything in order to maintainŽeleziarnePodbrezová'ssuccessinthefuture. Ing. Vladimír Soták Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer Ž E L E Z I A R N E P O D B R E Z O V Á A . S .