NV Bekaert SA
STATUTORY AUDITOR’S REPORT ON THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2009 TO THE SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETING
To the shareholders
As required by law and the company’s articles of association, we are pleased to report to you on the audit assignment which you have entrusted to us. This report includes our opinion on the consolidated financial statements together with the required additional comment.
Unqualified audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of NV Bekaert SA (“the company”) and its subsidiaries (jointly “the group”), prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union and with the legal and regulatory requirements applicable in Belgium. Those consolidated financial statements comprise the consolidated balance sheet as at 31 December 2009, the consolidated income statement, the consolidated statement of changes in equity and the consolidated cash flow statement for the year then ended, as well as the summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes. The consolidated balance sheet shows total assets of 2,829,513 (000) EUR and the consolidated income statement shows a consolidated profit
(group share) of 151,792 (000) EUR for the year then ended.
The board of directors of the company is responsible for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements. This responsibility includes among other things: designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies, and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with legal requirements and auditing standards applicable in Belgium, as issued by the “Institut des Réviseurs d’Entreprises/Instituut van de Bedrijfsrevisoren”. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the consolidated financial statements are free from material misstatement.
In accordance with these standards, we have performed procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. The procedures selected depend on our judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error.
In making those risk assessments, we have considered internal control relevant to the group’s preparation and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the group’s internal control. We have assessed the basis of the accounting policies used, the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the company and the presentation of the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole. Finally, the board of directors and responsible officers of the company have replied to all our requests for explanations and information. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements give a true and fair view of the group’s financial position as of 31 December 2009, and of its results and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU and with the legal and regulatory requirements applicable in Belgium.
Additional comment
The preparation and the assessment of the information that should be included in the directors’ report on the consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the board of directors.
Our responsibility is to include in our report the following additional comment which does not change the scope of our audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements:
The directors’ report on the consolidated financial statements includes the information required by law and is in agreement with the consolidated financial statements. However, we are unable to express an opinion on the description of the principal risks and uncertainties confronting the group, or on the status, future evolution, or significant influence of certain factors on its future development. We can, nevertheless, confirm that the information given is not in obvious contradiction with any information obtained in the context of our appointment.
Diegem, 19 March 2010
The statutory auditor
DELOITTE Bedrijfsrevisoren / Reviseurs d’Entreprises
BV o.v.v.e. CVBA / SC s.f.d. SCRL
Represented by
