Inform P. Lykos: Increase in turnover and EBITDA in the nine months

The turnover of the Inform P. Lykos group increased by 5% in the first nine months of 2021, while EBITDA increased by 2.8% compared to the corresponding period last year, as announced today by the listed company.

In particular, as the company states in a relevant announcement, following the letter of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission dated 09/11/2021, the INFORM Group announces the basic financial figures as well as the developments in its activity during the third quarter and progressive nine months of the year 2021 .

SUMMARY FINANCIAL SIZES FOR THE PERIOD 01 / 01-30 / 09/2021

GROUP FINANCIAL DETAILS (thousand €)		01/01-30/9/2021	01/01-30/9/2020	CHANGE	%
Sales		53.845.683	51.262.857	2.582.826	5,0%
Earnings / (losses) before taxes, financial, investment results and total depreciation (EBITDA)		5.214.270	5.073.152	141.118	2,8%
Profit / (loss) before taxes, financial and investment results (EBIT)		1.912.816	1.947.426	(34.610)	-1,8%

SUMMARY FINANCIAL SIZES FOR THE PERIOD 01 / 07-30 / 09/2021

GROUP FINANCIAL DETAILS (thousand €)		01/07-30/9/2021	01/07-30/9/2020	CHANGE	%
Sales		19.116.838	17.610.007	1.506.832	8,6%
Earnings / (losses) before taxes, financial, investment results and total depreciation (EBITDA)		1.968.827	1.578.868	389.959	24,7%
Profit / (loss) before taxes, financial and investment results (EBIT)		898.013	534.532	363.481	68,0%

The Group’s sales in the nine months of 2021 showed an increase of € 2.6 million, or + 5% compared to the corresponding nine months of 2020 with the main changes being:

(a) a larger share of the written postal services provided by postal services, with an increase in turnover of € 2.9 million compared to the corresponding nine months of 2020;

b) significant increase of the new electronic and physical document management services provided to our clients by the companies we acquired in Romania as well as the development of digital transformation solutions in Greece and Romania, yielding a total of € 1.6 million, while

c) the delay in the renewal of bank cards continues due to the redesign of their art with a progressive income delay of € 1.7 million, part of which will boost next year’s sales.

Respectively in the third quarter of 2021, the Group’s sales amounted to € 19.1 million compared to € 17.6 million in the corresponding third quarter of 2020, increased by € 1.5 million or 8.6% mainly due to in: a) the increased participation of the new electronic and physical document management services provided to our existing and new customers by the new activity integrated through the acquisitions made in Romania and b) the increase of share in the provided postal services.

As a result of the above, the basic figures of the profitability of the INFORM Group in the nine months of 2021 are as follows:

– Profit before taxes, financial, investment results and depreciation (EBITDA) of the Group, amounted to € 5.2 million compared to € 5.1 million in the corresponding nine months of 2020, increased by € 0.1 million or +2 , 8% mainly due to the sales mix,

Earnings before taxes and financial results (EBIT) amounted to € 1.9 million, almost at the same level as in 2020, due to the higher depreciation by € 175 thousand compared to the corresponding nine months of 2020.

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE PERIOD 01 / 01-30 / 09/2021

(in thousand €)	30/9/2021	31/12/2020	CHANGE
ASSETS
Non-current assets	53.759.456	54.730.923	(971.467)
Current assets	25.053.283	24.513.546	539.736
Set of assets	78.812.739	79.244.470	(431.731)
EQUITY
Total equity	35.218.964	37.368.811	(2.149.847)
LIABILITIES
Long-term responsibilities	18.197.200	19.887.476	(1.690.275)
Short-term liabilities	25.396.575	21.988.183	3.408.391
Total liabilities	43.593.775	41.875.659	1.718.116
Total equity and liabilities	78.812.739	79.244.470	(431.731)

Cash and cash equivalents	(1.210.492)	(5.039.745)	3.829.253
Long-term loan liabilities	15.884.340	17.562.496	(1.678.156)
Short-term loan liabilities	9.248.977	6.076.856	3.172.121
Net borrowing	23.922.825	18.599.607	5.323.218

During the third quarter of the year 2021, no significant changes took place in the capital structure, in the loan position, as well as in the other figures of the financial position of the Group. Net borrowing amounted to € 23.9 million, increased by € 5.3 million. The increase compared to 2020 is due to the acquisition of the Cypriot company CLOUDFIN LTD, which provides technologically advanced digitization solutions, amounting to € 1.1 million. and the increase of the Group’s share in the companies NEXT DOCS, which provide the electronic and physical document management services in Romania, by € 1.3 million that took place in the first half of the year 2021 and in the increase of the working capital needs, the which are expected to normalize in the coming months.

ESTIMATED IMPACTS OF THE ENERGY CRISIS AND ITS DIFFUSION COVID-19

The energy crisis is causing tensions in the global market for raw materials and supplies, which is unfortunately having a major impact on all sectors of the economy.

The most important problems are:

– Continued price increases in the pulp and in the manufacture of all types of paper, resulting in an increase in raw material prices of 40%.

– Continued increases in transport costs during the last 6 months which has led to a fivefold increase in the charge value of containers for transporting materials and goods.

During this period, the Group has managed to absorb a significant part of the recent increases. This upward trend in costs seems to have a dynamic that will continue next year without being visible when there will be normalization. As the Management of the Group budgets a significant increase of the production costs of the products, it elaborates the need to redefine the selling prices in cooperation with our customers.

Regarding the spread of COVID-19, the Group has managed to smoothly manage the effects of the pandemic. The Group has proven its ability to adapt to the rapidly changing and unpredictable conditions of the European market in which it operates, met the challenges and continues in the second half of 2021 with a focus on developing higher value-added services, such as Enterprise Document Management, Scanning & Archiving, as well as the provision of highly specialized and technologically advanced digitization solutions such as Digital Onboarding (DoB), OCR / Data Capture Solutions for Automatic Document Identification and Registration (Process Automation) using Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation, Natural Language Understanding and Cognitive Analytics Solutions, in order to support existing and new customers in their own digital transformation.

About INFORM

H INFORM (LYK.ATH) was founded in 1897, is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since 1994 and provides products and services for the secure management of documents and information, innovating in the digital transformation of companies and organizations by providing highly specialized solutions. He is busy 520 employees with four production units in Greece, Romania and Albania, while it holds a leading position in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe in the Public and Private sector.

He is a member of it AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS, Austrian high-tech IT group Hardware Embedded Security, which employs 1.300 and has an international presence with three Divisions, AUSTRIACARD, INFORM and NAUTILUS, in the fields of Digital Security, Information Management and IoT respectively, with a total turnover € 174 million in 2020. The Group AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS has a very strong pan-European business footprint, from the United Kingdom to Greece and Turkey, with seven production facilities and seven personalization centers in Europe as well two additional personalization centers in the USA and in South America, which allow him to serve his customers, wherever they are, in the best possible way.

For more information, visit www.informlykos.com

CONDENSED FINANCIAL SIZES FOR QUARTER 2021