Press Releases 2005


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	Press Releases

August 12, 2005

SGL Carbon’s Ratings Upgraded by Standard & Poor’s

Wiesbaden, August 12, 2005. The corporate, credit, and bond ratings for SGL Carbon were upgraded by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday. The credit rating for SGL Carbon AG was raised from “B” to “B+” with the outlook “stable”. S&P simultaneously increased the rating of the bond that was issued by SGL Carbon Luxembourg S.A. from “CCC+” to “B-”. The credit rating for SGL Carbon LLC (USA) was furthermore raised from “B” to “B+”. These upgrades will have a favorable impact on potential future financial arrangements undertaken by SGL Carbon.

Standard & Poor’s had placed SGL Carbon on its watch list for a possible upgrade following the announcement of the cooperation agreement with Audi on June 7, 2005. The upgrade then followed the analysis of the half-year interim report, which was disclosed on August 9. Standard & Poor’s bases its higher ratings in particular on the substantial increase in profit from operations and the improvements in the financial figures over the past six months, as well as the Company’s healthy business outlook and the high level of capacity utilization of the core business with graphite electrodes, the sale of the loss-generating Surface Protection operations, and the recent reduction in the second EU fine.

Important Notice:
This document contains statements on future developments that are based on currently available information and that involve risks and uncertainties that could lead to actual results deviating from these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, for example, unforeseeable changes in political, economic and business conditions, particularly in the area of electrosteel production, the competitive situation, interest rate and currency developments, technological developments and other risks and unanticipated circumstances. We see other risks in price developments, unexpected developments relating to acquired and consolidated companies, ongoing restructuring measures and unforeseeable occurrences in conjunction with the reviews to be performed by the European antitrust authorities. SGL Carbon does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.