DGAP-News: Business figures for 2018 of Netfonds AG form a sound basis for investment in further growth

Business figures for 2018 of Netfonds AG form a sound basis for investment in further growth

- Gross consolidated sales increased by 8.9 percent to EUR 93.6 million, net consolidated sales increased disproportionately to EUR 20.2 million
- Cash and cash equivalents increase to EUR 5.4 million, equity ratio rises to 27.7 percent
- Contracts of the board members Kieper, Reichelt and Steinmeyer extended until the end of 2022

Hamburg, 24 Mai 2019 - Netfonds AG (ISIN: DE000A1MME74), a leading platform for administration, consulting, transaction processing and regulation for the financial industry, today published its attested business figures as part of the 2018 Annual Report. Despite high investments in the digital platform finfire and adverse conditions in the capital markets, the company was able to further strengthen its financial base and to generate a pre-tax profit for the tenth consecutive year.

Gross consolidated sales increased by 8.9 percent to EUR 93.6 million (FY 2017: EUR 86.0 million), while net consolidated sales increased by 17.9 percent to EUR 20.2 million (FY 2017: EUR 17.1 million). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of EUR 1.4 million were significantly lower than in the previous year (FY 2017: EUR 2.6 million) due to significantly increased investments in the development of the digital platform finfire. Adjusted for one-time IT investments, the aBITDA increased to EUR 3.4 million.

As a result of the complete contribution of the Group companies NFS Netfonds Financial Services GmbH, NFS Capital AG and NFS Hamburger Vermögen GmbH and the associated increase in shares to 100 percent each, the company's equity doubled to EUR 11.5 million (31.12.2017: EUR 5.8 million). At the same time, the equity ratio increased from 22.3 percent to 27.7 percent. Cash and cash equivalents also improved significantly and, at EUR 5.4 million, were up 19.8 percent on the previous year (31.12.2017: EUR 4.5 million).

The most important key figures were based on the business figures for 2018 as follows:

"In spite of our considerable investments in the rapid development of our digital platform finfire, our numbers continued to gain in quality and solidity in 2018," emphasizes Karsten Dümmler, CEO of Netfonds AG. "We will make targeted use of the funds available to us in the current financial year in order to further accelerate our growth. Inorganic growth is also within our focus. "

Once again, the two growth segments Regulatory and Technology made above-average contributions to the Group's overall growth. Above all, demand in the area of ​​liability roofs noticeably continued to rise in the second half of the year. At the same time, demand for the high-margin finfire services in asset management and portfolio management and insurance business increased.

Specifically, preliminary gross sales by segment in 2018 developed as follows:

For the current financial year 2019, the Management Board expects organic growth of around 12 to 18 percent and thus gross consolidated sales of between EUR 105 and 110 million. Net sales are expected to range between EUR 23.0 million and EUR 24.5 million. For EBITDA, the Management Board expects a target value of between EUR 1.8 and 2.3 million. With the full roll out of the finfire platform later this year, Netfonds is expanding its business model to include the Software as a Service provider for banks, insurance and financial distributors. In addition, Netfonds sees opportunities in the market to continue to grow inorganically through the acquisition of companies or parts of companies.

In addition, the Supervisory Board of Netfonds AG extended the Management Board contracts of the Management Board members Oliver Kieper, Peer Reichelt and Martin Steinmeyer for approximately three and a half years until the end of 2022 at the latest.

The full annual report of the company will be available for download shortly at www.netfonds.de.

Contact
Ingo Middelmenne
Head of Investor Relations
Netfonds AG
Heidenkampsweg 73
20097 Hamburg
Mobile: +49 - 174 - 90 911 90
Phone: +49 - 40 - 822 267 355
Email: imiddelmenne@netfonds.de

About the Netfonds Group

The Netfonds Group is a leading platform for administration, consulting, transaction processing and regulation for the German financial industry. Under the finfire brand, the company provides its customers with a web-based technology platform that enables financial industry users to fully, safely, and above all fully comply with the relevant MiFID II requirements in financial market transactions. The offer is tailor-made for a wide variety of day-to-day business requirements, from fund management companies, asset managers, financial advisors to specialist banks and insurance companies. Customers of Netfonds thus benefit from the most modern software solution on the market, which simplifies the consultation process, makes it secure and enables target group-specific product marketing. With a total of 187 employees (as at 31.12.2018), the company generated net consolidated sales of EUR 20.2 million in 2018 for gross consolidated sales of EUR 93.6 million. The share of Netfonds AG is listed in the m: access of the Munich Stock Exchange and can be traded via XETRA.