Brockhaus Technologies AG: Record quarter with respect to all key performance indicators

- Technology group continues to grow strongly

- Significant growth in revenue by +165.8% to € 28.8 million in Q1 2022

- CEO Marco Brockhaus: “The acquisition on Bikeleasing is a huge success”

- Guidance for fiscal year 2022 confirmed

Frankfurt am Main, May 16, 2022. Brockhaus Technologies AG (BKHT, ISIN: DE000A2GSU42), a technology group focused on acquiring high-margin and high-growth technology and innovation champions within the German Mittelstand, today announced its quarterly results for Q1 2022.

Within the first three months of fiscal year 2022, Brockhaus Technologies generated revenue of € 28.8 million. This corresponds to a strong growth of +165.8% as compared to the previous year period Q1 2021 and primarily results from the consolidation of the Financial Technologies segment (consisting of Bikeleasing), which was not part of the Group yet in the prior-year-period. In respect to the segments Security Technologies (IHSE) and Environmental Technologies (Palas), revenue growth amounted to +4.6%. Adjusted EBITDA also grew significantly to € 7.6 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.3% (Q1 2021: € 0.8 million and 7.4%). In addition to the consolidation of Bikeleasing with its strong margin, main drivers were the significant margin increase at IHSE (Segment Security Technologies) and, to a lesser extent, lower expenses in the Central Functions.

Bikeleasing: Continued strong growth of the digital platform in the seasonally weaker first quarter

In the first quarter of 2022, the Financial Technologies segment, consisting of Bikeleasing, generated revenue of € 17.5 million with an adjusted EBITDA of € 5.9 million, which corresponds to a continuously high adjusted EBITDA margin of 33.6% Bikeleasing develops and operates a digital B2B finance platform for the facilitation, financing and management of company bikes as well as potentially other employee benefits through the employer.

Comparative disclosures for Q1 2021, as for the other two segments, are not possible under IFRS, since Bikeleasing only generated financial information according to German GAAP until Brockhaus Technologies obtained control over the business in the acquisition end of November 2021. The unchanged growth trend however can be clearly illustrated by operating KPIs. Within the first three months of the fiscal year, Bikeleasing increased the number of corporate customers connected to its platform by around +2,600 to a total of around 34,500. Simultaneously, the number of new company bikes brokered grew by c. +65% as compared to the prior-year-period to c. 20,000 (Q1 2021: c. 12,000). The business of Bikeleasing is subject to pronounced seasonality in conjunction with the warm “biking season”, which is why an over proportional part of revenue is attributable to the second and third quarter. This pattern is also observable from the previous years’ quarters Q1 2021 and Q1 2020, which only accounted for 15% and 14% of the total number of bikes brokered within the respective years.

IHSE: Return of larger projects following partial revocation of COVID-19 related travel and contact restrictions in many regions

The Security Technologies segment, consisting of IHSE, significantly grew its revenue in the first three months of the fiscal year by +19.7% to € 7.2 million. The adjusted EBITDA increased over proportionally to € 2.1 million, which corresponds to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 28.7% (Q1 2021: 11.5%). IHSE is a leading manufacturer of KVM (keyboard, video, and mouse) technology for highly secure, low-latency and loss-free data transmission in mission-critical applications.

Next to a strong order backlog as per end of 2021, a reason for the strong development in Q1 2022 was the continued, partial revocation of COVID-19 related travel restrictions and social distancing requirements, especially in the western hemisphere, which had a significant impact on the projecting and realisation of larger KVM projects over the past two years.

In addition, on the back of its cross-sectional technology, IHSE was able to win one of the leading companies within the semiconductors segment as a customer, which should build the basis for more business in this completely new end market.

Palas: Pick-up of the conventional business of certified air quality measurement after an extraordinarily strong Q1 2021, driven by COVID-19 fueled demand for face mask test rigs

The segment Environmental Technologies, consisting of Palas, generated revenue of € 4.1 million in the first quarter of 2022, which is -14.6% below the strong previous year quarter Q1 2021 with an EBITDA margin of 23.0% (Q1 2021: 33.5%). Palas develops, manufactures, and sells high-precision devices for measuring, characterizing, and generating particles in air, such as fine dust and nanoparticles.

The major reason for the reduced revenue level within the first three months of this fiscal year was the extraordinarily high volume of business with test rigs for testing the effectiveness of respiratory masks in Q1 2021. The demand for those test rigs already decreased significantly from the second half of 2021 onwards, with the conventional products of Palas for certified air quality measurement not being able to fully compensate this effect. This was primarily also due to the continued lock-down measures in China, especially in Shanghai, which negatively impacted the shipment of products and thus revenue recognition.

In addition, on the back of its new product line AQ Guard Smart, Palas was able to win a first key customer in the field of air quality measurement at construction sites – a market which was inaccessible for Palas until now.

„After successfully expanding of our technology group end of 2021 by two additional subsidiaries, the first full quarter after their consolidation was an absolute record quarter for Brockhaus Technologies. The growth trend of Bikeleasing is unchanged and the business model robust. The return of larger projects with renowned customers at IHSE underlines the relevance of their technology for mission critical data transmission. Also, Palas delivered the second strongest Q1 in their corporate history, which was only distorted by the unusually strong, COVID-19 fuelled previous year quarter. All in all, and despite the extreme uncertainties in the market, I am looking optimistically into the fiscal year 2022 and years to come due to the sustainable technology and innovation leadership of our subsidiaries” says Marco Brockhaus, CEO of Brockhaus Technologies.

Outlook

Based on its quarterly results Q1 2022, Brockhaus Technologies confirms its forecast for fiscal year 2022 with revenue of between € 140 – 150 million and a continued high adjusted EBITDA margin of 35%. In addition, BKHT is optimistic to also grow inorganically this year, based on its strong pipeline of potential acquisition targets.

EBITDA is calculated as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for the cost of acquisition of subsidiaries, costs of equity transactions to be recognized in profit or loss and costs of share-based payments. Both revenue and EBITDA are also adjusted for effects from purchase price allocations (PPA). Further information on our key performance indicators can be found in Note 7 to the 2021 Consolidated Financial Statements (page 86 of the 2021 Annual Report).

The Quarterly Report Q1 2022 is now available at https://ir.bcm-ag.com/websites/brockhaus/English/3000/publications.html.

The earnings call for investors and analysts in English will take place at 5:00 pm (CET) on May 17. If you would like to participate, please register here: https://webcast.meetyoo.de/reg/ODagGcIePGp2

Financial calendar

June 22, 2022 Annual General Meeting 2022

August 15, 2022 Publication of Half-Yearly Report

November 14, 2022 Quarterly Report Q3 2022

About Brockhaus Technologies AG

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 further information, please visit www.brockhaus-technologies.com

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:
USC – Ulrich Stockheim
Phone: +49 221 28 06 55 18
E-Mail: presse@us-communications.de