AFYREN Commits to Responsible Care and Receives a Trophy in the "Societal" Category

• Signature of the Responsible Care global charter, certifying the commitment of all AFYREN sites
• National Responsible Care trophy awarded in the "Societal" category for its "Sustainable industrial jobs for all" project at AFYREN NEOXY
• An award illustrating an innovative HR policy in line with the company's culture and development

Regulatory News:

AFYREN (Paris:ALAFY)

AFYREN, a greentech company that offers manufacturers natural, low-carbon ingredients produced using unique fermentation technology based on a completely circular model, announced today its commitment to the global Responsible Care and received a trophy illustrating an innovative human resources (HR) policy to support the company's development.

Signature of the Responsible Careglobal charter

The Responsible Care initiative is the global chemical industry's shared commitment to the safe management of chemical products throughout their life cycle, and the promotion of their role in improving quality of life and their contribution to sustainable development. With the signing of the Responsible Care global charter by Jérémy PESSIOT, AFYREN's co-founder and Managing Director, and Cyril LEPRÊTRE, AFYREN NEOXY's Managing Director, AFYREN is committed to applying its key principles at both global and strategic levels, particularly in its industrial operations.

This strong commitment is fully aligned with the Company's global CSR and QHSE strategy.

Responsible Care trophy awarded

Following its recognition by the Grand Est region, AFYREN has been awarded the national Responsible Care 2024 trophy in the "Societal" category for its innovative recruitment program "Sustainable industrial jobs for all

Designed in partnership with Pôle Emploi¹, IUT St Avold, OPCO 2I and with the support of France Chimie Grand Est, this program was carried out to complete AFYREN NEOXY's production team, in a context of scarcity of profiles for industrial jobs.

In particular, it relied on the "Simulation Recruitment Method" (Méthode de Recrutement par Simulation), an original recruitment method proposed by Pôle Emploi which focuses on candidates' learning abilities, over and above their experience.

After a selection phase, candidates were trained on all subjects prior to taking up their positions, in particular Safety, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Quality, Environment, Electrical Habilitation and Material Handling Equipment.

Overall, this program led to the recruitment of some twenty employees (including 12 via the SRM method), who embodied AFYREN's values (commitment, agility and humility), and formed a high-performance, committed and diverse production team

Sandrine HILGERT, AFYREN NEOXY Human Resources Manager, comments: "The results have exceeded our expectations. The program enabled us to attract profiles with complementary and very varied skills and abilities, with a very balanced age range (from 24 to 54), diverse professional experiences sometimes far away from industry (service, transport, crafts...) and two women. During the training period, which lasted several weeks, the 24 operators were able to forge strong bonds of mutual support and solidarity."

Over and above its effectiveness in terms of recruitment, this program promotes inclusion and diversity, and plays an active part in local, economic and social development by enabling unskilled people to return to employment and/or change of career.

An innovative HR policy, adapted to AFYREN's culture and development

In a context of rapid growth for the company and its workforce (x5 in three years), the HR strategy is deployed to attract the best talents, structure the ways of working and ensure organizational efficiency.

Léa BASSEGODA, Human Resources Director and member of AFYREN's Executive Committee, explains: "We don't operate in the same way with 120 and 10 employees...especially in a context of industrial scale-up. Structuring our governance, defining the roles and responsibilities of each person within the organization, and structuring our internal interfaces are all strategic priorities to ensure operational efficiency that meets our challenges."

To secure the Company's development, AFYREN aims to rely on profiles combining skills and adherence to its values. Moreover, the company operates in an industry context that demands the ability to perform with method and agility, in which roadmaps must be built and executed simultaneously.

"The innovative recruitment program tested at AFYREN NEOXY is an example of an original initiative offering an effective response to the scarcity of certain profiles. It is fully in line with a broader HR strategy currently being structured to further enhance our attractiveness (regular internal surveys, training plan, development of managerial culture, Diversity and Inclusion strategy)," concludes Léa BASSEGODA.

About AFYREN

AFYREN is a French greentech company launched in 2012 to meet the challenge of decarbonizing industrial supplies. Its natural, innovative and proprietary fermentation technology valorizes local biomass from non-food agricultural co-products, replacing petro-sourced ingredients usually used in many product formulations. AFYREN's 100% biobased, low-carbon and sustainable solutions can meet decarbonization challenges in a wide variety of strategic sectors: human and animal nutrition, flavors and fragrances, life sciences and materials, and lubricants and technical fluids. AFYREN's plug-and-play, circular technology combines sustainability and competitiveness, with no need for manufacturers to change their processes.

The Group's first French plant, AFYREN NEOXY, a joint venture with Bpifrance's SPI fund, is located in the Grand-Est region of France, in Saint Avold, serving mainly the European market.

AFYREN is also pursuing a project in Thailand with a world leader in the sugar industry, and is developing its presence in the Americas, following up on distribution agreements it has already signed.

At the end of 2023, AFYREN employed about 120 people in Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand and Carling Saint-Avold. The company invests 20% of its annual budget in R&D to further develop its sustainable solutions.

AFYREN has been listed on the Euronext Growth exchange in Paris since 2021 (ISIN code: FR0014005AC9, mnemonic: ALAFY).

Find out more: afyren.com

¹ Today called "France Travail" (French governmental agency which registers unemployed people, helps them find jobs and provides them with financial aid)

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Théo Martin Mathilde Bohin
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NewCap

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Nicolas Merigeau
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