ANNUAL REPORT 2021

3 INTRODUCTION OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS I would also like to thank all the employees of Železiarne Podbrezová a.s., including subsidiaries, trading and manufacturing companies, such as Transmesa, and companies trading in steel scrap. Despite a difficult year impacted by COVID-19, we achieved excellent results and maintained employment. I would also like to thank the Government of the Slovak Republic, which allocated and released funds to maintain employment, which the Company used to a certain extent. There were significant increases in input prices and we included them in cost formulas and final prices to sell our products with profit, and we expect that the financial results for 2022 will be even better than in the previous year. The world has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and already faces another challenge. The war beyond our Eastern border has had an impact in many areas. The military conflict in Ukraine is bad news for everyone. We hope that the situation will soon be resolved and the turbulent period will soon end. I believe that the impacts of the war will not negatively affect our Company, suppliers or customers. Dear Business Partners, I wish you good health and every business success in 2022 and I look forward to our future cooperation. Ing. Vladimír Soták Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer