PRESS STATEMENT ON THE INCIDENT IN SZCZECIN PARK I

Official Comment on the Incident in Szczecin Park

Berlin/ Stettin, 21 August 2023 – On Friday 18 August, an unfortunate incident occurred in the “M40” warehouse in Park Szczecin I that we were leasing from investor Accolade. During a violent storm, part of the roof collapsed. As a result, rainwater that had accumulated on the roof entered the warehouse in large quantities. A total of 144 employees were in the building at the time. One person was slightly injured and required hospital treatment.

Our first priority was the safety of our employees: the police, fire brigade and ambulance services were notified immediately and arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, as did representatives of the Building Inspectorate (PINB). Everyone in the building at the time of the incident was quickly evacuated and taken to the other two warehouses, M10 and M13, where they were provided with hot drinks in the canteens. For safety reasons, all employees had to leave behind their personal belongings during the evacuation, such as mobile phones, keys and personal documents such as ID cards. AUTODOC provided transport, hotel accommodation and all meals for those who could not return home. AUTODOC also organised a locksmith service for employees who were unable to enter their homes.

The warehouse and its immediate surroundings were subsequently closed by the public authorities for the duration of the ongoing investigation. A technical expert is investigating the situation on site and will then report to the relevant building inspectorate (PINB).

Our warehouses M10 and M13 have been inspected by the owner’s facility manager and are functioning safely and fully operational.

More than 2,000 people work at our Polish logistics site in Szczecin. More than 500 people are affected by the closure of the M40. All warehouse employees have been given paid leave for the duration of the closure. Employees in need of financial support have the opportunity to receive an advance payment. Salary, attendance allowance and bonus for the month of August will be paid in full. Our office staff will have the opportunity to work remotely.

We are taking this incident very seriously and are doing everything possible to work with the parties involved – Accolade as investor and landlord, Blue Assets as property manager, Panattoni as developer, Trasko as general contractor, PINB and the relevant authorities – to determine the causes of the incident and to remedy the negative impact on our business.

We would like to emphasise that we, as tenants of the building, are not responsible for this incident. At the same time, our business is severely affected as this building serves as the central logistics hub for all AUTODOC distribution centres. Products for the Ridex and Stark private brands are stored here for replenishment purposes. These are distributed as required to the distribution centres in Berlin, Szczecin and soon Cheb, from where they are shipped to customers throughout Europe. The M40 is AUTODOC’s largest warehouse to date and was only completed in July 2022.

As part of our crisis management, we have started to look at various options to mitigate the negative impact on our business and our customers. For example, we are intensifying our search for alternative warehouse space in the immediate vicinity that is easily accessible for our employees. Our main goal is to recover warehouse operations in a new location in September. We are also in contact with the relevant authorities to gain access to our warehouse as soon as possible so that we can remove our products and move them to a new warehouse.