Francotyp Postalia : with better than expected business performance in first half of 2021

Berlin, 31 August 2021 - Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG (ISIN DE000FPH9000) closed the first half of 2021 with an robust revenue and earnings performance. The company therefore already increased its forecast for fiscal year 2021 on 20 August 2021.

Consolidated revenue amounted to EUR 99.5 million in the first six months of fiscal year 2021, compared with EUR 99.7 million in the same period of the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached EUR 8.8 million after EUR 13.1 million in the previous year. FP generated free cash flow of EUR 4.0 million in the first half of 2021, as against EUR 5.9 million in the same period of the previous year. Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, FP showed solid business performance in the first six months of 2021 while continuing to work on the FUTURE@FP, in order to transform the company into a sustainably profitable, international technology group in the long term.

Revenue in the Franking & Office Solutions business unit decreased by 3.1% to EUR 60.4 million. Revenue in the Mail Services business unit regarding the collection, franking and consolidation of business mail increased by 4.3% to EUR 30.5 million and was stronger than expected. Revenue in the Software & BPA and IoT business unit also rose by 6.3% to EUR 8.7 million. FP recorded negative currency effects on revenue of EUR 2.3 million in the first half of 2021 (previous year: positive effect of EUR 0.4 million).

Focus on customer and market requirements

Over the past few months the organisation has been reshaped. With the Franking & Office Solutions, Mail Services and Software & BPA and IoT business units, FP has an organisational model in which responsibilities are clearly defined in terms of revenue and earnings as well as the customer-focused development and go-to-market approach. This structure is now also reflected in the segment reporting, which has been adjusted accordingly and thus significantly increases transparency.

FP CEO Carsten Lind: 'We have made progress with the implementation of our FUTURE@FP transformation programme in the first half of 2021. Our revenue is better than originally expected, especially in view of the corona pandemic. By realigning the organisation, we have set the prerequisites for our customer-centric-go-to-market approach. This enables us to expand and further develop our offerings in a targeted manner, particularly in the digital area.'

Solid operating result

The FP Group generated an EBITDA of EUR 8.8 million in the first half of 2021, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 8.9%. The main factors were less capitalised development costs, the increase in the cost of materials in relation to revenue and the incurred currency losses of EUR 1.6 million. Savings - especially in employee benefit expenses - had a positive impact, as management structures were downsized. Employee benefit expenses decreased by 5.4% to EUR 29.5 million. The cost of materials increased by 3.6% to EUR 49.8 million in the first six months of 2021, primarily as a result of increased activities in the Mail Services business. Other operating expenses climbed by 6.1% to EUR 16.3 million.

Operating profitability improved on a normalised basis. Taking into account own work capitalised of EUR 5.9 million in the previous year period and EUR 3.0 million in the first half of 2021, as well as negative exchange rate effects of EUR 1.6 million, operating profitability (normalized EBITDA) amounted to EUR 7.4 million in the reporting period compared with EUR 6.6 million in the first half of the previous year.

Amortisation and depreciation declined by 19.8% to EUR 11.2 million. As a result of lower EBITDA, consolidated profit amounted to EUR 0.6 million in the first six months of 2021, compared with EUR 1.8 million in the same period of the previous year. Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to EUR 0.04 as against EUR 0.11 in the first six months of 2020.

CFO Martin Geisel: 'FP is on the right track. The see first positive effects of our transformation programme as we bring our cost structures in line with the expected business volume. With FUTURE@FP, we will increase our effectiveness, our efficiency and, above all, our profitability.'

Forecast for 2021 increased

The Management Board is expecting revenue of between EUR 192 million and EUR 200 million for fiscal year 2021. Previously, revenue had been forecasted at between EUR 185 million and EUR 196 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are now expected to amount to between EUR 12 million and EUR 16 million (EBITDA margin of 6% to 8%). The previous forecast was between EUR 6 million to EUR 12 million. Accordingly, the company is anticipating robust revenue and improved earnings compared to the previous year. In fiscal year 2020, the FP Group reported revenue of EUR 195.9 million and EBITDA of EUR 8.0 million.

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