EQS-News: Brockhaus Technologies AG: Dynamic and highly profitable growth continues in 2024 and 2025

Brockhaus Technologies AG: Dynamic and highly profitable growth continues in 2024 and 2025

• Organic revenue growth in financial year 2023 of +31% to €186.6 million
• Improvement in adjusted pro forma EBITDA by +41% to €67.0 million; adjusted pro forma EBITDA margin at 35.9%
• Continued strong growth in both segments:
  • Bikeleasing increases the number of brokered company bikes by +28% to ~151,000. The number of corporate customers connected to its platform grows by around 14,000 to approx. 60,000 with meanwhile 3.3 million employees that have access to the platform
  • IHSE with continued growth, particularly in North America, and a significant increase in profitability to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.4%
• Despite significant investments in 2023, high financial reserves available for future growth initiatives: cash and cash equivalents of €53.7 million
• First dividend payment of €0.22 per share planned for financial year 2023
• Further profitable growth expected for 2024 and 2025:
  • Revenue to increase to a range from €220 to €240 million and adjusted EBITDA from € 80 to €90 million in 2024
  • Medium-term outlook for 2025 remains unchanged with expected revenue growth from €290 to €320 million and an EBITDA margin of around 40%

Frankfurt/Main, March 28, 2024. According to the audited financials now available, Brockhaus Technologies AG (BKHT, ISIN: DE000A2GSU42) closed the 2023 financial year with very significant improvements in revenue and earnings. At €186.6 million (2022: €142.7 million) revenue in the 2023 financial year was up by +31% compared to the previous year. Adjusted pro forma EBITDA improved by +41% to €67.0 million (2022: € 47.4 million). The adjusted pro forma EBITDA margin improved accordingly from 33.2% to 35.9%. Adjusted EBIT increased from €44.2 million to €62.4 million in the pro forma view and the corresponding margin to 33.5% (2022: 30.9% margin). For the purposes of better comparability, the pro forma view includes the four external sales agencies acquired by the subsidiary Bikeleasing in the course of 2023 as if they had already been part of the Group as per January 1, 2023.

From a non-pro forma perspective, revenue also increased by +31% to €186.6 million, adjusted EBITDA by +31.2% to €62.2 million (2022: €47.4 million) and adjusted EBIT by +30.6% to €57.7 million (2022: €44.2 million). Brockhaus Technologies achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.3% (2022: 33.2%) and an adjusted EBIT margin of 30.9% (2022: 30.9%).

The adjusted free cash flow before tax was €44.5 million (previous year: €39.8 million) and therefore increased by 11.7%.

Based on the good liquidity position, the very successful business performance in 2023 and the positive future prospects the Management Board and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting on June 20, 2024, that a dividend of €0.22 per share be distributed for the first time. In the interest of an attractive dividend policy, Brockhaus Technologies aims to distribute a steadily increasing dividend in the future.

“The great development in the financial year 2023 reflects the success of our business model. Our subsidiaries Bikeleasing and IHSE have both contributed to significant profitable growth and promise to continue their success stories in the coming years. We plan to increase our revenue to between €220 and €240 million and adjusted EBITDA to between €80 and €90 million in fiscal year 2024. Our medium-term outlook for 2025 remains unchanged at revenue of between €290 to €320 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 40%,” comments founder and CEO Marco Brockhaus on the development.

Net debt remains at a comfortable level despite add-on acquisitions and share buyback – high cash and cash equivalents of €53.7 million

Brockhaus Technologies continues to have a high balance sheet quality and a very solid financing structure. BKHT can drive further organic and inorganic growth on the basis of a very healthy balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to €53.7 million at the balance sheet date (end of 2022: €70.8 million) despite significant investments and repayments over the course of the past financial year. These include the purchase price payment of €19.5 million for the acquisition of the four sales agencies in the Financial Technologies segment, the share buyback of €11.0 million carried out at the end of the year, and repayments of acquisition loans in both segments totaling €28.0 million. As a result of these measures, net debt increased from €37.4 million at the beginning of the year to €58.5 million as per December 31, 2023. Nevertheless, at 0.87x (end of 2022: 0.79x), leverage, i.e. the ratio of net debt to adjusted pro forma EBITDA, is still well below the target value of 2.5x. This means that BKHT continues to have high financial reserves to finance its planned future growth.

Demand for company bike leasing remains high – Bikeleasing continues to grow dynamically

The subsidiary Bikeleasing (Financial Technologies segment) continued to show strong growth momentum in the financial year 2023 thanks to the further sharp rise in demand for company bike leasing. Revenue increased by +37% to €146.2 million (2022: €106.6 million) and adjusted pro forma EBITDA by +44% to €63.1 million (2022: €43.9 million). The adjusted pro forma EBITDA margin thus improved from 41.2% to 43.1%.

Bikeleasing was able to increase the number of companies connected to its digital platform by more than 14,000 to around 60,000, which is a new annual record. These corporate customers employ around 3.3 million people. The number of newly brokered company bikes increased by +28% to around 151,000. In addition to the strong growth in the core market of Germany, Bikeleasing has already acquired around 2,300 corporate customers in Austria by the end of 2023. Revenue there rose disproportionately by +163% in the reporting period. For the coming years, the company anticipates increasingly positive effects from the acquisition of the sales agencies, further improved market penetration with a continuously rising number of corporate customers, and an increase in utilization rates among existing customers. The connection of direct-to-consumer companies (D2C brands) to the platform, which has been realized in 2023, has already shown a positive impact.

IHSE benefiting in particular from strong growth in the Americas region

In the 2023 reporting year, the Security Technologies segment (IHSE and kvm-tec) achieved an increase in revenue of +12% to €40.5 million (2022: €36.1 million) with adjusted EBITDA of €11.1 million (2022: €8.6 million), which caused the adjusted EBITDA margin to rise from 23.9% to 27.4%. Demand developed particularly positive in the Americas region, where revenue increased by +24.6% in the 2023 financial year. The EMEA region also increased its revenue by +7.2% compared to the previous year. The regional markets in Asia continued to be impacted by the difficult conditions in China. IHSE and kvm-tec are also likely to benefit in future from the global trend towards increased digitalization and connectivity as well as the need to protect against the increasing number of cyberattacks worldwide.

Optimistic outlook for 2024 and 2025: substantial revenue and earnings growth expected

In view of the positive growth forecasts for both segments, the Management Board of Brockhaus Technologies is confident that it will increase revenue to between €220 and €240 million and adjusted EBITDA to between €80 and €90 million in the full year 2024, even without factoring in further significant acquisitions. In addition, the medium-term outlook for 2025 communicated in the mid of 2023 is confirmed, according to which revenue – also without the inclusion of further significant acquisitions – is expected to increase to between €290 and €320 million and the adjusted EBITDA margin to around 40%. This would increase adjusted EBITDA in the middle of the target corridor to around €120 million.

The existing financial resources and the expected substantial cash flows from operating activities will continue to be used for the organic growth of the subsidiaries and for selective inorganic growth initiatives.

The 2023 Annual Report and further information on the company can be found here: https://ir.brockhaus-technologies.com/websites/brockhaustechnologies/English/3000/publications.html

The earnings call for the 2023 Annual Report in English will take place today, Thursday, March 28, 2024, at 3:00 pm (CET). Interested parties can register for the call under the following link: https://webcast.meetyoo.de/reg/oaHsnCSWesKR

Contact information

For investors:

Paul Göhring
Phone:  +49 69 20 43 40 978

Fax:  +49 69 20 43 40 971

E-mail:  ir@brockhaus-technologies.com

For media:

GFD - Gesellschaft für Finanzkommunikation
Phone: +49 69 97 12 47 33

Fax:  +49 69 97 12 47 20

E-mail:  dietz@gfd-finanzkommunikation.de

Consolidated key figures for the 2023 financial year*

* Note on prior-year comparison: With regard to the definition of alternative performance indicators, please refer to page 94 et seq. of our 2023 Annual Report

About Brockhaus Technologies

Based in Frankfurt am Main, Brockhaus Technologies AG (BKHT, ISIN: DE000A2GSU42) is a technology group that acquires high-margin, high-growth technology and innovations champions with B2B business models in the German Mittelstand. With a unique platform approach and a long-term horizon, Brockhaus Technologies actively and strategically supports its subsidiaries in achieving profitable long-term growth, both across industries and internationally. At the same time, Brockhaus Technologies offers a gateway into these non-listed German technology champions, which are otherwise inaccessible to capital market investors. For more information, please visit: https://www.brockhaus-technologies.com/en/