Berlin, November 16, 2020 - Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG (FP), expert for secure digital communication processes (ISIN DE000FPH9000), today presented its figures for the first nine months of 2020. The company confirms the preliminary figures published on November 9th.
In the first nine months of 2020, FP generated revenues of € 147.6 million compared to € 152.4 million in the same period of the previous year. EBITDA reached € 19.5 million compared to € 21.0 million in the same period of the previous year. In the first nine months of 2020, the Company increased free cash flow to € 7.1 million compared with € 0.6 million in the previous year. Adjusted for investments in finance lease assets, M&A as well as payments for the JUMP project, free cash flow reached € 11.7 million compared to € 7.0 million in the prior-year period.
Robust core business
FP's core business of franking and inserting continued to show comparatively robust development. Due to the economic impact of the Corona pandemic, revenues decreased by 6.0 % to € 92.5 million. Revenues include contributions from the acquisition of Hefter Systemform (€ 2.9 million), the effect of the reassessment of the economic life of leased products from 2019 (€ 2.1 million) and negative currency effects (€ -0.4 million). Despite the Corona-related decline in revenues, FP was able to further increase its market share in the first nine months of 2020, which now stands at 12.4 %.
Revenue in Mail Services, the product area surrounding the collection, franking and consolidation of business mail, rose by 4.3 % to € 42.9 million and continued to grow profitably. This is evidence of the successful realignment, but the effects of the Corona pandemic were also strongly felt in this product area. Following a slight increase in the first quarter of 2020, the volume of mail processed declined slightly over the period under review.
Revenue in the software/digital business was down 6.0 % to € 12.2 million. Both the hybrid mail services business and the new digital products such as FP Sign and IoT were negatively impacted by the effects of the corona pandemic. The Software/Digital product area is currently undergoing validation with a focus on business models with a clear value proposition for customers and significant scaling potential for FP.
FP increases earnings per share to € 0.24
In the first nine months of 2020, the FP Group generated EBITDA of € 19.5 million compared to € 21.0 million in the same period of the previous year. This corresponds to a decline of 7.2 %. The EBITDA margin reached 13.2 % (previous year: 13.7 %). Earnings from the active use of government corona aid amounting to € 2.4 million, mainly in the USA as well as in Canada and Germany, contributed positively to the development of EBITDA.
Depreciation, amortization and impairments, on the other hand, decreased significantly by 10.3 % to € 14.6 million. EBIT thus improved slightly to € 4.9 million. Consolidated net income climbed by 35.7 % to € 3.8 million. This corresponds to earnings per share of € 0.24 compared to € 0.17 for the first nine months of 2019.
Guidance for 2020
The FP Group confirms the forecast for revenue and EBITDA, which was specified when the half-year figures were published, and is increasing its free cash flow forecast (assuming exchange rates remain constant). FP continues to expect a decline in revenue to between € 195 million and € 203 million and EBITDA in a range of € 24 million and € 28 million for the full year 2020. For the adjusted free cash flow, FP now expects a level roughly on a par with the previous year. Due to the recent intensification of the corona pandemic and the global countermeasures taken, uncertainty about the further course of business has increased once again.
Carsten Lind, CEO of the FP Group, says: "FP is a strong brand and has a robust business model. We will develop the digital business segments into a relevant part of the company and thus achieve a significant and sustainable increase in the value of the company. Together with my colleagues on the Management Board Patricius de Gruyter and Sven Meise, I will do everything in my power to leverage FP's potential, which has not yet been fully realized".
Key figures at a glance:
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