3U with significant revenue and earnings growth in financial year 2020

  • Revenue and earnings forecast met
  • Further strong revenue growth planned for 2021
  • Proposed dividend probably EUR 0.05

Marburg, 10 March 2021 – 3U HOLDING AG (ISIN DE0005167902) was able to accelerate the positive development of previous years in the 2020 financial year. According to preliminary, unaudited figures, it achieved consolidated sales of around EUR 61.05 million. This corresponds to growth of around 18.7 % (2019: EUR 51.45 million). The main drivers were once again the strategically important business areas of cloud computing and online trading. Adverse effects due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the measures to combat it occurred only selectively; the higher demand for telecommunications services due to contact and travel restrictions led to growth in the Telecommunications business area as well.

In addition to the revenue forecast, the earnings targets were also met, the net profit target was slightly exceeded. Although other income was lower than in 2019, the expansion of business activities in the Group combined with a lower cost of materials ratio led to another improvement in gross profit. The share of personnel and other expenses in revenue also declined. As a result, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) improved to around EUR 11.55 million, an increase of more than 14% compared to the 2019 financial year (EBITDA 2019: EUR 10.10 million).

As expected, the consolidated net result (after minorities) was lower than in the 2019 financial year due to higher depreciation and higher tax expenses, reaching around EUR 3.27 million (2020: EUR 4.09 million). This corresponds to earnings per share (basic) of EUR 0.09 (2019: EUR 0.12).

In the fourth quarter of the 2020 financial year, the Lüdersdorf wind farm and – as part of the ongoing concentration on the strategic focus areas – the participation in ClimaLevel Energiesysteme GmbH were sold. Therefore, the 3U Group starts into the 2021 financial year from a lower base.

Against this backdrop, the Management Board expects Group revenue for the 2021 financial year to come in at the previous year’s level. It is not expected that the strong organic growth of the remaining divisions will fully compensate for the lacking revenue from the participations sold in 2020. In 2021, revenue in the range of EUR 58 million to EUR 63 million is expected to be generated. Also, income in the single-digit million range from the sale of assets has been included in the planning. The Management Board expects a slightly higher result before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of between EUR 11 million and EUR 13 million in view of the measures introduced to strengthen earnings and the increasing share of higher-margin business. This leads to an expected result for the 3U Group of between EUR 2 million and EUR 4 million.

 

Forecast of Group key figures for 2021

Preliminary unaudited Group key figures for 2020

Most recent forecast of Group key figures for 2020

Group key figures for 2019

Revenue (in EUR m)

58.0 – 63.0

61.1

58.0 – 63.0

51.5

EBITDA (in EUR million)

10.0 – 13.0

11.6

10.0 – 12.0

10.1

Consolidated net profit (in EUR million)

2.0 – 4.0

3.3

2.0 – 4.0

4.1

As always, the actual business results may deviate from this forecast, for example due to acquisitions of companies in the field of cloud computing or the sale of operating units of the Group. The extent to which a renewed tightening of economic restrictions in the course of the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic could have a negative impact on business activity cannot be predicted with certainty. The extent to which a renewed tightening of economic restrictions in the course of the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic could have a negative impact on business activity cannot be predicted with certainty.

In view of the continued positive performance of the Group, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board are expected to propose distribution of a dividend of EUR 0.05 to the Annual General Meeting. The dividend will be paid out of the tax deposit account without the deduction of tax.

The Annual Report 2020 will be published on 30 March 2020.

 

Further Information: 
Dr Joachim Fleing
Investor Relations
3U HOLDING AG
Tel.: +49 6421 999-1200
Fax: +49 6421 999-1222
E-mail: ir@3u.net

About 3U:
3U HOLDING AG (www.3u.net) has its headquarters in Marburg, Germany, and was founded in 1997. It is the operating management and investment holding company at the head of the 3U Group. It acquires, operates and sells companies in the three segments of ITC (Information and Telecommunications Technology), Renewable Energies and SHAC (Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning Technology). The 3U Group has successful and profitable business models based on megatrends in all three segments. It continues to expand its business activities dynamically, particularly in its strongest growth areas of cloud computing and online trading, in which it is striving to achieve leading positions in the market.

3U HOLDING AG’s shares are traded on XETRA, Tradegate and on the German regional stock exchanges (ISIN: DE0005167902; identifier: UUU).

weclapp is awarded with the B2B-Award “Enterprise-Resource-Planning” and receives recognition as European Growth Champion

  • Customers award weclapp’s cloud-based ERP platform for the best price/performance offer in the industry
  • weclapp is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe

Marburg, 3 March 2021 – weclapp SE, a subsidiary of 3U HOLDING AG (ISIN DE0005167902), has been awarded the German B2B Award 2020/21 in the sector ‘Enterprise Resource Planning’. The first place goes to weclapp in the category ‘price/performance ratio’. In the study of the DtGV (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verbraucherstudien mbH), decision-makers from middle and top management were asked about their experiences with providers of ERP systems in the categories ‘customer satisfaction’, ‘customer service’ and ‘price/performance ratio’. Only providers that had received at least 100 ratings were included in the final evaluation. Also in the two remaining categories weclapp was voted among the top 3 of 20 ERP solutions. In all three categories weclapp was able to prevail against leading industry giants. Across industries, weclapp ranks 38th in the field of 1,370 evaluated companies thanks to its top rating in the ERP industry. The “German B2B Award 2020/21” is published at www.dtgv.de/awards/b2b2020/.

weclapp is one of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies”

Not only because of the high customer satisfaction, weclapp is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. The Financial Times published the list of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” on 2 March 2021 at www.ft.com. weclapp is ranked 464th. “The clear focus here is on innovative companies that can demonstrate organic and sustainable growth”, according to the Financial Times and the German partner Statista in the laudation. weclapp SE qualified for the European ranking through its 13th place in the IT and software sector and 65th place across all sectors among 500 German growth champions awarded by FOCUS and Statista in October 2020.

“Dialogue with customers is the daily driver of product development for us. As a cloud-based system, weclapp continuously provides customers with new and constantly expanded functionalities at the push of a button. This is reflected in high demand and consequently also in company growth. We have a clear goal: to become the leading cloud ERP platform provider for small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe and worldwide. The entire team continues to drive our growth strategy every day,” explains Ertan Özdil, founder and CEO of weclapp SE.

Michael Schmidt, the CEO of 3U HOLDING AG, adds: “In 2020, weclapp has also met expectations and continued the rapid organic growth of recent years. As is well known, we are working together to increase this pace again – also through possible acquisitions of competitors or customer bases. And we are examining all financing options up to and including a possible IPO of weclapp.”

 

Further Information: 
Dr Joachim Fleing
Investor Relations
3U HOLDING AG
Tel.: +49 6421 999-1200
Fax: +49 6421 999-1222
E-mail: ir@3u.net

About 3U:
3U HOLDING AG (www.3u.net) has its headquarters in Marburg, Germany, and was founded in 1997. It is the operating management and investment holding company at the head of the 3U Group. It acquires, operates and sells companies in the three segments of ITC (Information and Telecommunications Technology), Renewable Energies and SHAC (Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning Technology). The 3U Group has successful and profitable business models based on megatrends in all three segments. It continues to expand its business activities dynamically, particularly in its strongest growth areas of cloud computing and online trading, in which it is striving to achieve leading positions in the market.

3U HOLDING AG’s shares are traded on XETRA, Tradegate and on the German regional stock exchanges (ISIN: DE0005167902; identifier: UUU).