DGAP-News: NFON AG / Key word(s): Half Year Report/Half Year Report NFON AG continues on its growth course in first half of 2021 2021-08-19 / 07:00 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Corporate News

NFON AG continues on its growth course in first half of 2021

- Recurring revenues grow disproportionately to total revenues by 17.3% in first half of 2021

- Average revenue per user (blended ARPU) at EUR 10.03 thanks to increase in voice minutes

- European sales network expanded to include over 3,000 partners

- Partnership with Meetecho a clear commitment to the independent implementation of the NFON Group's unified communications strategy

- Adjusted EBITDA increased to EUR 2.3 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million)

- Number of seats rises by 12.8% year-on-year to around 557,000

- Forecast for full year 2021 confirmed

Munich, 19 August 2021 - NFON, a European provider of voice-centric business communication from the cloud, continued to grow in the first half of 2021. Compared to the first half of the previous year, recurring revenue rose by 17.3% and thus disproportionately to total revenue. At EUR 33.7 million, recurring revenue continues to account for a very high 88.9% of total revenue. Total revenue increased by 15.6% from EUR 32.8 million to EUR 37.9 million in comparison to previous year's figure.

Dr Klaus von Rottkay, CEO of NFON AG, sees NFON at the beginning of the next growth leap: "The attractiveness of our business model is particularly evident in the good development of recurring revenues. The market for business communication is undergoing a profound transformation: telephony, collaboration and business applications are growing together. The potentials arising from this for NFON have already become clear in some areas in the first half of 2021 and will increasingly materialise from 2022 on."

In a market environment that continued to be characterised by Covid-19-related uncertainties and the associated delays in customer decisions, NFON recorded growth in installed extensions (seats) of 12.8% compared to 30 June 2020. The now 557,401 seats and the continued very low termination rate of around 0.5 percent per month underscore the steadily increasing demand for cloud telephone systems in the business customer segment and at the same time the satisfaction of NFON's current customer base, notwithstanding the existing special influences. The potential of NFON's business model is also reflected in the positive development of blended ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Compared to the first half of 2020 (EUR 9.83), blended ARPU for the reporting period is EUR 10.03. The positive trend of the previous quarters thus continued and resulted primarily from the higher revenue with voice minutes in the wake of the increased home office activity of many employed persons. The potential to increase the ARPU level even further is opened up by the expansion of NFON's offering beyond the SIP/PBX business in the direction of "smart workflow" voice-centric communication with Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and in future Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). The increased blended ARPU and the lower marketing and personnel expense ratio compared to the previous year had a positive impact on the development of results in the reporting period. The reason for the improved ratio lies in the investments in marketing and personnel, which have only been increasing again since the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to EUR 2.3 million (previous year: EUR 1.4 million).

In line with the Growth Strategy 2024, NFON has been investing more heavily again since the second quarter of 2021. These activities are currently reflected in increased marketing expenses and the further expansion of the Company's partner network. NFON products are now sold by more than 3,000 partners throughout Europe. With this scalable sales approach, NFON will increasingly accelerate the Company's growth in the coming years.

Furthermore, NFON had entered into a strategic partnership with the Italian company Meetecho as part of an investment at the end of June. For von Rottkay, this represents a clear commitment by NFON to its focused Unified Communications (UC) strategy: "This partnership gives us direct access to industry-leading WebRTC expertise and accelerates the implementation of our own UC strategy. This represents an important step toward strengthening our independence from third-party technology in the long term." At the same time, the two companies have entered into a service and collaboration agreement to jointly leverage the further potential of the Janus WebRTC Server. Already today, the Janus WebRTC Server is used as a central real-time communications technology by many companies such as Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Twitter, Highfive and Alibaba Cloud due to its multifunctional and modular design and its proven performance.

NFON is laying the foundation to continue the Company's positive development in the coming years with its Growth Strategy 2024 "Target - Enhance - Scale." Von Rottkay: "We are already accompanying over 40,000 companies in 15 European countries into the future of business communication with intuitive and flexible communication solutions. We know our customers, our partners, our market and Europe and our goal is clearl: We want to become the leading provider of voice-centric business communication in Europe with NFON. Accordingly, our priority for the coming years is investment and growth."

For 2021, NFON plans a recurring revenue growth rate between 14% and 16%. Recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue is expected to exceed 85%, with seat growth between 15% and 17%.

Results for the first half of 2021 at a glance: 


EUR million                                       H1 2021  H1 2020 Change 
Total revenue                                        37.9     32.8  15.6% 
Recurring revenue                                    33.7     28.7  17.3% 
Share of recurring revenue in total revenue         88.9%    87.6% 
Non-recurring revenue                                 4.2      4.1   3.6% 
Share of non-recurring revenue in total revenue     11.1%    12.4% 
ARPU blended^1                                  EUR 10.03 EUR 9.83   2.0% 
Seat growth (30 June)                             557,401  494,132  12.8% 
EBITDA                                                1.8      0.8 116.6% 
Adjusted EBITDA^2                                     2.3      1.4  68.9%

^1 Based on average number of seats per month in each year ^2 Adjusted for the retention bonus, stock options

Further information on the 2024 Growth Strategy and details on the market for cloud communication can be found in the new CLOUDS magazine (https://corporate.nfon.com/en/investor-relations/reports).

Investor Relations Contact

NFON AG Sabina Prüser Head of Investor Relations +49 89 45300 134 sabina.prueser@nfon.com

Media Contact

NFON AG Thorsten Wehner Vice President Public Relations +49 89 45300 121 thorsten.wehner@nfon.com

About NFON AG

Headquartered in Munich, NFON AG is the European provider for voice-centric business communication from the cloud, counting more than 40,000 companies across 15 European countries as its customers. With Cloudya, NFON offers an easy-to-use, independent and reliable solution for advanced cloud business communications. Further premium and industry solutions complete the portfolio in the field of cloud communications. With our intuitive communications solutions, we enable European companies to improve their work a little every single day. https://corporate.nfon.com/en/

Disclaimer

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold in the United States of America absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act. No public offering of securities of the Company is being made in the United States of America and the information contained herein does not constitute an offering of securities for sale in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such offering would be unlawful. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution directly or indirectly in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction in which the distribution or release would be unlawful or to U.S. persons.

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2021-08-19 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de

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Language:     English 
Company:      NFON AG 
              Machtlfinger Straße 7 
              81379 Munich 
              Germany 
Phone:        +49 89 453 00 0 
E-mail:       ir-info@nfon.com 
Internet:     https://corporate.nfon.com 
ISIN:         DE000A0N4N52 
WKN:          A0N4N5 
Listed:       Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, 
              Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange 
EQS News ID:  1227485 
 
End of News   DGAP News Service 
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1227485 2021-08-19

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August 19, 2021 01:00 ET (05:00 GMT)