The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the containment measures taken by the authorities and the private sector, has also impacted the Metall Zug Group, leading to year-on-year decreases in sales and order intakes in the Medical Devices, Wire Processing and Infection Control Business Units in particular. The ongoing tense situation in the automotive industry is placing an additional burden on the Wire Processing Business Unit.  In April 2020, the Medical Devices Business Unit fell victim to a cyber attack in the US, which resulted in an intragroup payment being transferred to a false account. Investigations are underway to identify the culprits, but there is little hope of success. As things stand, the damage is expected to amount to approximately CHF 2.5 million.

Scheduled for spin-off, the V-ZUG Group has so far been less significantly affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The appropriate precautions put in place are hampering manufacturing productivity and prevented sales-boosting measures such as the advisory services provided at the ZUGORAMA stores or to customers at home. On the other hand, work to remedy previously identified internal problems (ERP, delivery reliability) proceeded to plan. While the progress made in this area and the impact of COVID-19 are presently balancing each other out, it is impossible to estimate the further medium to long-term consequences of the pandemic.

Metall Zug does not expect the situation to ease any time soon, and short-term developments are difficult to gauge. The company has taken steps to lessen the negative effects of the current economic scenario. Thanks to its encouraging liquidity position, however, Metall Zug is continuing to carry out key strategic projects as planned.

Part of the Metall Zug Group, V-ZUG Holding AG is to be spun off from Metall Zug, and listed in the Swiss Reporting Standard of SIX Swiss Exchange Zug as scheduled on June 25, 2020 (securities number 54 248 374, ISIN CH0542483745, ticker symbol VZUG). Under this spin-off via a dividend in kind, each type A Metall Zug share confers entitlement to 1 V-ZUG Holding AG registered share and each type B Metall Zug share confers entitlement to 10 V-ZUG Holding AG registered shares. The cut-off date for receipt of the dividend in kind is June 24, 2020, after close of trading. The registered shares of V-ZUG Holding AG will be traded on SIX Swiss Exchange from June 25, 2020. In connection with this listing, an Information Memorandum (in German only) containing extensive information on the V-ZUG Group is available at https://www.metallzug.ch/en/investoren/spin-off and at https://www.vzug.com/ch/en/spin-off-and-listing.