Report on the first half of financial year 2019/2020 (1 June to 30 November 2019)

Group sales T€ 10,893 (+43.9%) // Gross cash flow T€ 881 (+274.9%) // Group earnings T€ 411 (+114%) // Extremely high order backlog of T€ 23,201 (+6.1%)

CeoTronics AG notched up group sales of T€ 10,893 (previous year T€ 7,569) in the reporting period from 1 June to 30 November 2019 and thus achieved the highest half-yearly sales in the company’s history.

Due to another large number of orders received in the current financial year, the order backlog, which was already high at the same point in the previous year (+ 273.6%), rose by a further 6.1% to T€ 23,201. The order backlog as at 30 November 2019 was not only characterised by a very high value but also by the higher number of larger projects and, above all, by the fact that many orders were processed over a longer period in several delivery batches and/or with several performance milestones (partly including upstream development, certification/licensing, etc.). On 13 January 2020, CeoTronics announced another order for approx. € 1.7 million in CorporateNews. This increased the order backlog to over € 24.8 million.

At the half-way point of the financial year, an EBIT of T€ 731 (previous year T€ 103), earnings before taxes of T€ 595 (previous year T€ 8) and group earnings of T€ 411 (previous year T€ 192) were recorded.

The gross cash flow in the first half of financial year 2019/2020 was T€ 880 (previous year T€ 235).

As at 30 November 2019, the group’s equity capital had increased by T€ 381 to T€ 10,731 from T€ 10,350 compared to the end of financial year 2018/2019. However, the equity capital ratio fell from 49.2% to 46.9% due to the much higher balance sheet total.

The headcount in the group (incl. trainees) was 142 as at 30 November 2019 and thus a total of three employees fewer than the previous year’s figure. By full-time equivalents (FTE), this gave a figure of 130 (previous year 132).

The threat posed by terrorism and organised crime continues. Accordingly, the national security and law enforcement agencies also have to upgrade in terms of personal technical equipment in order to strengthen internal and external security. Policymakers and our society have identified the need to sustainably increase investment in order to defend our democracy and freedom.

A traditional core competence of CeoTronics lies in the successful acquisition and processing of orders placed by national security and law enforcement agencies. The new CeoTronics products, such as the CT-MultiPTT 3C and CT-MultiPTT 1C, were developed for special forces deployments of the police and the military. CeoTronics had the right product portfolio at the right time. Due to these positive underlying conditions, CeoTronics anticipates receiving further large orders.

As a result of the increase in the share of sales accounted for by national security and law enforcement agencies, dependence on German economy activity, which may be weakening more quickly, has decreased.

The new product developments CT-DECT Headset and CT-DECT Case8/12 will be available for distribution on a graded basis from March 2020. The highest development stage of the CT-DECT Case can “manage” up to 12 mobile CT-DECT users and will be available at the end of 2020/early 2021. With these completed developments and series implementations, the renewal of the product portfolio is almost complete and the previously mentioned products will significantly improve our competitiveness, including in the industrial market. With the new CT-DECT products, but also with the next marketing stage of the CT-MultiPTTs in the rest of Europe, CeoTronics will attempt to further increase the share of foreign sales in group sales, which has declined to 29.8% at present. The high domestic share of group sales (70.2%) is due to the many large orders placed by national security and law enforcement agencies as well as the defence industry, which need the newly developed CeoTronics products for their assignments.

“The liquidation of the investment backlog built up over decades in the national security and law enforcement agencies, as well as new investments required by additional and changed challenges, will keep us busy for years to come. Accordingly, we estimate that the future business development of CeoTronics will also be very positive. In financial year 2019/2020, we achieved group sales of approx. € 23.0 million and positive group earnings of approx. € 1.0 million. For the coming financial years, we are sticking to the forecast or the potential to achieve over € 25.0 million in sales, clearly positive results and the ability to pay a sustainable dividend within the next three years,” said CEO Thomas H. Günther.

CeoTronics AG Audio Video Data Communication (ISIN: DE0005407407), Adam-Opel-Straße 6, 63322 Rödermark, Germany, is listed on the Basic Board and has been licensed for Xetra trading again since October 2019.

More information:
CeoTronics AG
Audio Video Data Communication
Investor Relations, Adam-Opel-Straße 6, 63322 Rödermark, Germany
E-Mail: investor.relations@ceotronics.com, Internet: www.ceotronics.com