BlueGlobe Magazine

BULLETIN August 2012 Issue No. 72

GROHE rewards loyal clientele at Gold Promotion Gala in Dubai GROHE recently held a Gold Promotion Gala Dinner for 200 of their dedicated UAE-based clients. The select group of clientele were welcomed to a Gala Dinner at the Amwaj Rotana Hotel, Dubai where senior management of GROHE Middle East and Africa took the opportunity to meet and thank them for their loyalty to the GROHE brand. Over 70 winners were rewarded with the grand prize being 500 grams of gold distributed during the Gold Raffle. The evening was complete with entertainment that included a magician that set the mood by creating a fun-filled event.

Loyal Partners of GROHE Honored

Rose Rotana at Great Heights with GROHE At 333 metres, the extremely slender, post-modern tower with a rose-like structure and a glass curtain wall located in Dubai is currently the tallest hotel in the world. GROHE thermostat and shower systems imbue the bathroom design with a cosmopolitan air throughout the hotel. Reliable temperature control with protection against

scalding thanks to GROHE CoolTouch® technology ensures a sensual shower experience for hotel guests.

”At Grohe we are always seeking of ways to engage with our clients and this Gold Promotion Gala Dinner gave us the chance to interact with them directly and together celebrate our success. Of course our partnership with key distributors is unquestionably more precious than gold. We look forward to hosting more of these events in the future and offering twice as many prizes in the Gold Raffle, said Simon G. Shaya - President, GROHE Middle East and Africa.”

GROHE selected for luxury Qatari project the Pearl HAILED as the Riviera Arabia, the fivestar Pearl selected GROHE products for 2 additional projects as part of the Grohe success story.

The architecturally themed to echo the Maghreb – with Moroccan-styled town homes and apartments, Viva Bahriya (VB 22 VB 23) and Porto Arabia (Parcel 13A and 13B and Parcel 3A and 3B) home to elegant residential towers lining a Riviera-like boardwalk around the marina.

GROHE’s Ondus range is found within the Viva Bahriya. Each luxury apartment home at the five-star waterside resort, VB22 and VB23, is a truly inspiring innovation in residential interior design. Selected for their uncompromising quality and highly sophisticated design, the GROHE products provide VB22 and VB23 with a selection of bathroom fittings that meet the residents’ every need.

Home to The Pearl-Qatar’s main

CONTENTS

Product News Maximum Vitalization 2

The Pearl - Qatar

Go Green GROHE launches innovative upgrades 3

harbour, Porto Arabia combines elegant towers and townhouses.

There are 2 separate towers within the Porto Arabia project and hence GROHE products differ in each of the towers. Parcel 3A-3B and 13A-13B include an assortment of GROHE fittings that include GROHE Allure and

GROHE Atrio collections.

These new projects join the already successful portfolio of GROHE products found in Pearl districts: Qanat Quartier 2008 and Madinat Centrale, the heart and downtown location of the Pearl, 2010.

Made in Germany GROHE grows at doubledigit rates

4

LOCAL UPDATES

PRODUCT NEWS Maximum Vitalization, Total Relaxation CHOOSE your spray, click the button, enjoy your shower - this is all it should take to create your perfect customized shower experience. How about an invigorating massage? A simple click does the trick.

Or do you prefer a caressing drizzle?

Another click and you can enjoy a soft summer rain. From maximum vitalization to total relaxation, the innovative GROHE Power&Soul™ showers put it all at your fingertips.

GROHE Power&Soul™

A simple click does the trick “One-click showering“ makes the difference. The GROHE „One-Click Showering“ spray selector fuses advanced engineering with outstanding design. Four buttons on the shower head give direct access to four single spray patterns and another unique seven mix patterns. This feature takes personalised showering to a new level.

Whatever the time of the day, whatever the mood of the moment – you’ll always have the perfect spray pattern available, not only for yourself but as well for each member of your family. The GROHE Bokoma Spray is a true GROHE wellness innovation - an actively expanding and contracting circular massage spray pattern. The soft Rain pattern, the airinfused GROHE Rain O2 pattern and the powerful Jet pattern complete the lineup. For added variety, these mix these patterns and match to your mood.

A range of unlimited possibilities Modern or contemporary? Head shower or hand shower? Compact or full-sized?

There is no need to compromise on variety and individuality. The range offers the right GROHE Power&Soul™ for all

personal preferences and bathroom layouts - from hand showers with 115, 130 or 160 millimetre diameter to wall and rail mounted showers, from large head showers to complete shower systems with diverse specifications. The showers come in two different designs, namely in urbane and purist Cosmopolitan design and in timeless Contemporary design.

Design and technology in harmony

Natural beauty in the shower NATURAL colours for stylish living – the new GROHE Rainshower® WaterColours Natural Collection blends timeless elegance with modern showering pleasure. Bringing out the best in the award-winning design of these hand showers, the natural shades of the spray faces will perfectly complement the elegant bathroom decors created by today’s architects and interior designers.

The combination of an extraordinary form with a naturally inspired colour shape instils a unique sense of harmony in the bathroom.

The colour concept of the new variants of the popular Rainshower® Icon is guided by the soft natural shades of tiles and materials frequently used in contemporary bathroom design. Natural Sandstone, Cloudy Limestone, Fired Clay, Sheer Marble, Misty Slate and Frosted Granite ideally complement a wide range of stone and wood coverings popularly used on walls and floors in upscale bathrooms.

Making the Rainshower® Icon hand showers an extremely versatile choice not only for private bathrooms but also for

luxurious hotel showers or sophisticated wellness areas. Their attractive shape and subdued colours make for a warm, cosy atmosphere.

The hand showers from the GROHE Rainshower® WaterColours Natural Collection will inspire design fans all over the world. The most striking feature beside the subdued colours is the halo-shaped shower head. In spite of the opening in the middle, it provides a full rain spray pattern that pampers the skin with soft droplets, courtesy of GROHE DreamSpray® technology.

GROHE Rainshower® WaterColours Natural Collection For completely guilt-free showering enjoyment, the SmartRain® spray that is created by the colour-matched EcoButton on the chrome handle allows to cut water consumption by up to 40 percent – without compromising on comfort and well-being. You can reduce the water flow for showering or increase it for washing your hair simply by switching just as you please. The models featuring GROHE EcoJoy® technology have additional saving potential, limiting the water flow to 9.4 litres per minute.

GO GREEN GROHE launches innovative upgrades for state-of-the-art kitchens GROHE Middle East and Africa recently launched the GROHE Blue® and GROHE Red® in specific markets after water testing analysis was positive for drinking.

HORECA 2012, Lebanon showcase GROHE Blue® and GROHE Red® The kitchen is a very special place. It is the centre of family life and hospitality, a place where meals are prepared and eaten, and a place where the latest design and technology play an important role. In modern life, the kitchen fulfils many functions. Above all, however, it is still the room in which food and drinks are prepared, with water being the single most important ingredient. The GROHE water systems, GROHE Blue® Chilled for great-tasting, water and GROHE Red® for instant boiling water at all times, add a whole new dimension to the kitchen sink, turning it into a convenient ‘water bar’, equipped with attractive design products. GROHE Blue® and GROHE Red® are from now on not only available with a C-spout but also with a spout in modern U-shape.

The impressive faucet is the modern eye-catcher in any kitchen and encourages self-service. Nothing

GROHE stand at the Horeca 2012 fair could be easier than tapping a glass of GROHE Blue®. And for an elegant dinner, there’s the attractive carafe from the GROHE Design Studio – because no meal would be complete without water, which remains the most popular drink, simply because it is a great-tasting, calorie-free and healthy refreshment. About seven litres of water are needed in the production of a single litre of bottled mineral water.

GROHE shares its commitment to the environment during ‘Build it Green Lebanon’ GROHE shared its commitment to the natural world and its expertise in water sustainability during its participation in the “Build It Green Lebanon” Sustainability Solutions Conference for the third consecutive year.

All GROHE products are characterised by a perfect balance of quality, design, technology and sustainability. These four pillars of the product philosophy form the basis for the high long-term value for which GROHE is known throughout the world. Research into product lifecycles has revealed that the greatest impact on the environment occurs during the usage of the products. GROHE therefore offers economical, long-life products that will please and function in the long term. These advantages, in combination with the perfect design, encourage customers to “bond” with their faucets, so to speak love them and keep them for as long as possible.

Morning discussions on Greening Lebanon

Ecology and economy in the projects business Environmental aspects drive product improvement and are a key development goal in the ongoing refinement of the product portfolio.

This sustainability aspect is an important success factor for GROHE, especially in the international projects business. In particular, products featuring the resourceefficient GROHE EcoJoy® technology meet the requirements of national building energy efficiency labels.

Selim Semaan, Lina Varytimidou, Mosbah Ayad and Berge Sarkis of GROHE

Products for a water-efficient all-in solution Single-lever mixers equipped with GROHE EcoJoy® guarantee a maximum flow rate of 5.8 litres per minute regardless of pressure fluctuations. Faucets for the kitchen sink are also available as GROHE

EcoJoy® variants. For the bathroom, there are showers with integrated saving technology and models equipped with an “EcoButton”, which gives users fingertip control of their water consumption. GROHE thermostats also feature an EcoButton, which reduces the flow rate by up to 50 percent.

MADE IN GERMANY

Red Dot 2012: Creativity wins five awards for GROHE GROHE has once again convinced the judges of one the world’s most renowned awards-Red Dot. No fewer than five of its products have garnered

the coveted “red dot award: product design 2012” - four lines of faucets and a handshower exhibiting a perfect blend of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, ecology and longevity.

“Given the highly demanding judging criteria at this award, we are all the more pleased that our products have been so well received by the judges,” says Paul Flowers, Senior Vice President Design at Grohe AG.

Aesthetic highlights in bathrooms and kitchens

GROHE Allure Brilliant™

The award-winning handshower from the Power&Soul™ line, for example, is inspired by the combination of conflicting opposites. Capable of producing both vigorous and caressing

spray patterns, it can deliver a shower experience which is either invigorating or relaxing. In addition, choosing the desired spray pattern has never been easier thanks to the unique GROHE AquaDirect™ controller which puts the full variety of spray patterns at the user’s fingertips. Another awardwinner, the unmistakeably designed Allure Brilliant line of faucets from the GROHE SPATM collection, gives bathrooms a unique visual identity.

Exact edges and cuts project a self-confident look and its varied surfaces reflect light in multiple ways.

Its trademark feature is the “Aqua Window”, a square-shaped cut-out in the spout. Set at a seven-degree angle, the three-dimensionally shaped lever commands attention as well.

GROHE hits double-digit growth rates GERMAN quality and German engineering enjoy an excellent reputation throughout the world. They are among the most important success factors for German companies operating on an international scale. Grohe AG, Europe’s largest and the world’s leading supplier of single-brand sanitary fittings, relies on innovation and quality “made in Germany” at all its worldwide locations – and quite successfully so. Following on from the new sales and earnings records marked in 2011, this successful performance continues in 2012.

Since July 2011, GROHE has held a majority share in Joyou AG through

The other three awards were fetched

by Concetto and Quadra lines of bathroom fittings as well as the Minta line of kitchen faucets. Some 1,800 companies from almost 60 countries had entered more than 4,500 products for the award.

Taking away five awards from the “red dot award: product design 2012”, GROHE is once again rewarded for the consistency of its design excellence.

While the market as a whole was flat, the company boosted its consolidated sales revenues by 29 percent to EUR 345 million in the first three months of 2012. EBITDA amounted to EUR 69 million, while the sales margin again reached 20 percent.

The Blue Globe Club P.O.Box 27048, CY-1641 Nicosia, Cyprus Fax: +357 22 379188 E-mail: blueglobe@grome.com

2011 a successful year for the GROHE Group Joyou Grohe Holding AG, a joint venture in which GROHE holds 50.1 percent.

In the financial year 2011, the GROHE Group (GROHE, Joyou) increased its consolidated sales revenues by 19 percent on the previous year to EUR 1,165 million. Even excluding Joyou, GROHE generated record sales of EUR 1,020 million in 2011, compared to

EUR 980 million in the previous year.

In Germany, Group sales revenues increased by 11 percent. The strongest growth was achieved in the Asian market. The Group’s adjusted EBITDA rose by approx. 16 percent to EUR 232 million in the past financial year.

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Publisher: Grome Marketing (Cyprus) Ltd Editor: Lina Varytimidou For Cyprus: Tel: + 357 22 465200 Fax: + 357 22 379188 For the Gulf: Tel: + 9714 3318070 Fax: + 9714 3321906 For Levant: Tel: + 961 1 986900

Fax: + 961 1 983958 For Saudi Arabia: Tel: + 966 1 2791153 Fax: + 966 1 4646672 For Egypt Tel: + 202 33048602 Fax: + 202 33047782 Hotline: 19013