It's all change for mobile phone supplier Balda (Bad Oeynhausen / Germany; www.balda.de). Yielding to pressure from the shareholders – including Maxgain Development, which owns 30% – the chairman of the board of management Dirk Eichelberger (45) is to resign, the head of the Asia region Michael Chiang will also go, and a new supervisory board will be elected.

One thing after another: Eichelberger, since November 2007 chief financial officer and, since 1 January 2009, sole member of the board of directors of Balda, is leaving the company effective 3 July 2009, at the end of the annual general meeting. Rainer Mohr (51) will follow as chief financial officer and for the time being as sole member of the board of directors. Mohr was previously CFO of Sovello (formerly EverQ), a manufacturer of solar modules.

The regional management in Asia will in future report direct to the board of directors. The tasks of CEO for Asia, the position previously held by Michael Chiang, will be assigned to the board of directors.

At the same time, two members of the supervisory board, Richard Roy and Michael Sienkiewicz, have resigned their posts also effective 3 July 2009. Dr. Axel Bauer had already resigned as of 31 May. At the suggestion of the shareholders, Dino Kitzinger (management consultant), Mark Littlefield (managing partner of BluePoint Controls in San Jose, California / USA), and Thomas J. Leonard (president of Optera, Holland, Michigan / USA) will be proposed as new members of the supervisory board.

In Q1 2009, Balda posted sales in its continued operations of EUR 27.9m (Q1 2008: EUR 34.9m). Unlike last year, the latest figure no longer includes the holding in TPK. Without it, sales revenues in the first quarter of last year would have been EUR 25.6m. EBIT is put at EUR 1.8m (minus EUR 5m), and net profit at EUR 1.8m (net loss of EUR 6.2m). For 2009, Balda's target is, at minimum, to achieve a balanced result despite the declining demand in the global mobile phone markets.