• Klöckner & Co named the company with the best financial communication in the SDAX^® index
• Jury highlights interesting capital market story based on combination of steel distribution and digitalization
• Prestigious capital market competition staged by manager magazine and HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Duisburg, Germany, September 15, 2022 – Klöckner & Co SE (Klöckner & Co) has taken first place among SDAX^® companies in the prestigious “Investors’ Darling” 2022 capital market competition, thus earning the title as the company with the best financial communication in that stock exchange index. The competition, which is organized annually by manager magazine and HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, analyzes and ranks the reporting and investor relations activities together with the capital market performance of the 160 largest German companies in the DAX^®, MDAX^® and SDAX^® indices. In the overall ranking, Klöckner & Co took fifth place. Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co, accepted the accolade at today’s award ceremony.

“Transparent financial communication is a top priority at Klöckner & Co. First place among SDAX^® companies in the “Investors’ Darling” competition shows that we are successful here. On behalf of the entire team, I am delighted to accept this award and see it as an incentive to continue our successful work,” Kerkhoff said.

According to the jury, which is made up of recognized experts, the key to Klöckner & Co’s outstanding rating was the company’s interesting capital market story based on the combination of steel distribution and digitalization.

The competition has been staged since 2014 by manager magazine and HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. Its ranking is based on a comprehensive analysis of companies’ capital market communication according to several hundred criteria. The dimensions covered comprise reporting, investor relations and capital market performance, which is based on share price performance relative to the sector in the last three years and an investor survey.

About Klöckner & Co:

Klöckner & Co is one of the largest producer-independent distributors of steel and metal products and one of the leading steel service companies worldwide. Based on its distribution and service network of around 140 locations in 13 countries, Klöckner & Co supplies more than 100,000 customers. Currently, the Group has around 7,200 employees. Klöckner & Co had sales of some €7.4 billion in fiscal year 2021. With the expansion of its portfolio of carbon-reduced materials, services and logistics options under the new Nexigen^® umbrella brand, the company is underscoring its ambition as a pioneer of a sustainable steel industry. At the same time, Klöckner & Co leads the way in the steel industry’s digital transformation and has set itself the target of digitalizing and largely automating its supply and service chain. In this way, the Company aims to develop into the leading digital one-stop-shop platform for steel, other materials, equipment and processing services in Europe and the Americas.

The shares of Klöckner & Co SE are admitted to trading on the regulated market segment (Regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) with further post-admission obligations (Prime Standard). Klöckner & Co shares are listed in the SDAX^® index of Deutsche Börse.

ISIN: DE000KC01000; WKN: KC0100; Common Code: 025808576.

Contact Klöckner & Co SE:

Christian Pokropp – Press Spokesperson

Head of Corporate Communications |

Head of Group HR

Phone: +49 203 307-2050

Email: [email protected]