FLAMMA : Covid-19 outbreak and impact to Flamma Italy

March 11, 2020

Re: Covid-19 outbreak and impact to Flamma Italy

Dear Partners and Friends,

I would like to reach out and provide you with a better picture of what the situation looks like in Italy and at Flamma. As you are reading in the newspapers, the situation in Italy is worsening every day: infections are growing exponentially and we don’t know when the peak will hit. The majority of the people infected manifest light symptoms and can be cured at home but many still need hospitalization and, a few, but still too many, are critical and need Intensive Care Units, unfortunately for weeks and not for days.

As Italian, I’m very proud of our Healthcare system but with these numbers even the best system will collapse and we are very close to this point. When my friends at hospital say that they’ll need soon to select which patients can be admitted and which not, you can understand that we reacted too little and too late.

As many others, I underestimated the danger. I thought that doctors words were exaggerated and with few precautions, we would have been safe from Covid19. Now, I can say that it was a big mistake because infections are still growing and the latest measures taken by the government were extremely necessary to stop the infection growth. Unfortunately the impact on our activity is extremely significant.

Flamma, till now, worked at full stream despite the emergency as well as the seasonal flu which typically reduces the workforce. We are now compelled to slow down the production from next week because the transportation of raw materials, mainly solvents, will worsen and because we are facing a progressive reduction of our workforce.

As of today no employee has tested positive for the virus. We took important measures to prevent infections inside the company. These include: 20% of our employees are currently working remotely from home; we have completely segregated teams on shifts in Production, QC, and RD, limiting contacts between these teams; we are doing sanitization between shifts in the changing room; enforcing strict rules for accessing to the cafeteria and break areas and reviewing procedures to work at distance; we manufactured large volumes of liquid sanitizer because it’s not available in the market , like masks : we are now buying them from china after having sent thousands to Honkai last month. Situation in China has significantly improved, thanks to the very strong measures implemented. Flamma Honkai now works at full stream and is delivering without issues by air and, with some delays, by sea.

I’m writing you this letter asking you to not underestimate the Coronavirus issue. The curve of infections in other countries is already similar to what we had in Italy some days ago and, I suppose, in the USA it will likely happen with a one or two week delay. Please take immediate decisions that we took too late and follow the most basic rules by especially limiting exposure to public areas.

At Flamma, we feel we are on the front line to deliver treatment to patients who need it now more the ever. We plan to continue our activity until we are able to guarantee the health and safety of our people. There will be for sure some delays but I want to assure you that the entire Flamma team is highly committed in delivering what is most needed now. It will be our duty to inform you immediately if the situation changes in the next few days.

I want to thank you for your support in this difficult time and for your trust in Flamma as a partner.

Sincerely,

Gian Paolo Negrisoli

President and CEO