ANNUAL REPORT 2021

Annual report 2021 Železiarne Podbrezová a.s. 14 scrap prices increased by approx. 20% to new record levels. Despite this, the Company continued production and sales in Q1 2022 as planned. One of the most significant factors affecting the steel tube industry is prices of hydrocarbon energy carriers – crude oil and natural gas. These have currently reached multi-year maximums and this affects the level of investment in extraction and processing. OCTGs are a major part of tube production. Due to concerns about crude oil and gas supplies fromRussia due to the war in Ukraine, it is expected there will be major investments in the oil infrastructure in other countries, increasing the demand for OCTGs. The Board of Directors continually and carefully monitors and evaluates the current market, economic and political situation and adjusts production and all related management areas accordingly. Despite the current exceptionally unstable and unpredictable situation of the global economy and society, we believe that our experienced management, sound financial situation, support by financing banks, wide range of long-term customers and our own sales and supply network will assist the Company to weather this period and maintain its position in the market. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES PRODUCTION AND SALES Železiarne Podbrezová a.s. has been building its own sales network since the 1990s. It consists of the subsidiaries PIPEX ITALIA S.p.A., ŽP Trade Bohemia, a.s., SLOVRUR Sp. z o. o., Pipex Deutschland GmbH and TRANSMESA. Some of these companies have been in the Group’s portfolio for almost three decades, and they sell about two thirds of the Company’s products to end customers. The Company sells the rest of its production directly to customers via its Sales Department. There was a higher number of orders in early 2021. Demand grew from January onwards, which was a major change after the poor 2020. The first quarter was comparable to the beginning of 2020 at all plants. However, there was a marked increase from Q2, when production at the steel mill, rolling mill and tube drawing mill increased by approximately 25-27%. Production volume also grew in Q3 (by 36- 81% compared to 2020, depending on the product). The last quarter was again above average with 23- 39% y/y growth. In 2021, we produced 370 292 tonnes of steel in total, which is 90 343 tonnes (32%) more than in the previous year. Steel production increased especially in Q3, by 81% y/y. The steel mill exceeded the monthly planned volume of production in Q1 and Q2 2021, producing 23% more than planned in total. There was an increase in the sale of steel blooms to external customers and downstream tube production plants. Of the total quantity produced, 254 565 tonnes of steel were used for own production of steel tubes and 112 729 tonnes were sold to external customers. In 2021, we met our KPI goals for melting loss and production downtimes. In the second half of the year, the steel mill cast a record-breaking 25 melts in one day (205x205 millimetre format). We are able to cast 21 melts per day on average. REPORT BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON BUSINESS ACTIVITIES, ASSETS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN 2021 AND INFORMATION ON THE BUSINESS PLAN