VW names Poetsch to take CFO post

September 9, 2002

WOLFSBURG,Germany, September 9,2002, Jeremy Van Loon writing for Bloomberg new reported that Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, named Hans Dieter Poetsch as chief financial officer to replace Bruno Adelt, whose contract expires at the end of next year.

Poetsch, 51, has been chief executive of Duerr AG, the largest maker of equipment for painting cars, since 1995. He will become a management board member of Volkswagen effective Jan. 1 and take over Adelt's responsibilities as finance chief at the end of 2003, the company said in a faxed statement.

Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder, who was fired from the top job at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG three years ago, is putting in place his own group of managers to help him run the German carmaker. Before he became CEO this year, two executives left, Tony Gott, the head of the Rolls-Royce and Bentley unit, and Klaus Kocks, Volkswagen's chief spokesman.

"This is relatively positive news and could mean a bit more transparency at Volkswagen," said Rolf Weigel, an analyst at Bank Reuschel who has a "neutral" rating on the stock. "Pischetsrieder has criticized the complexity of the company's financial reporting and has wanted to makes changes."

The company's supervisory board made the decision at a meeting during the weekend.

Volkswagen's shares rose as much as 1.45 euros, or 3.4 percent, to 44.25 euros and were up 1.2 percent at 43.33 euros at 12:48 p.m. in Frankfurt trading. The stock has lost 17 percent this year, while the benchmark DAX index has shed a third of its value.

Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen in July lowered its 2002 pretax earnings forecast by 9 percent as it lost sales to competitors and cut production. Pischetsrieder had aimed to match 2001's record earnings and sales in his first year on the job.

Adelt, who was born in the Ukraine, has worked at Volkswagen since 1956 and has been CFO since 1995. His contract was extended in March.

Former Robert Bosch GmbH management board member Stephan Rojahn will join Duerr's management board effective Oct. 1 and will take over from Poetsch Jan. 1, Duerr said in a statement to the Frankfurt exchange.

Rojahn joined Bosch in 1978 to work as an engineer and became a senior manager in 1997 and left the company Nov. 15, Die Welt reported last year.

Duerr, whose customers include Volkswagen as well as BMW, had a first-half pretax loss as it reorganized a division that makes measuring equipment for the auto industry. Duerr expects to spend money integrating and reorganizing the unit until the third quarter.

"Duerr has a relationship with Volkswagen and has lots to do with the auto industry," said Sebastian Stein, an analyst at Bank Berlin who has an "accumulate" rating on Volkswagen's stock.