SINNERSCHRADER : CONTINUES WITH DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS AS PLANNED / REVENUE GROWS BY 18.1 PER CENT IN THE SECOND FINANCIAL QUARTER OF 2017/2018 / ANNUAL FORECASTS ARE CONFIRMED

With a good second quarter (1 December 2017 to 28 February 2018), the SinnerSchrader Group continued its development as planned in the current financial year of 2017/2018. The sales revenue reached 16.1 million euros, exceeding the figure for the second quarter of 2016/2017 by 18.1 per cent. The strong dynamics in relationships with major existing clients, interesting new clients such as Hamburger Hochbahn (Hamburg's public transport network) for SinnerSchrader Swipe, and impetus from the cooperation with Accenture were major contributing factors.

Revenue totalled 30.5 million euros for the first full half of 2017/2018. The comparable figure from the previous year was thus exceeded by 3.6 million euros, or 13.2 per cent. The business segments all developed positively, with the Interactive Media segment showing the strongest growth.

The operating result (EBITA) reached 0.75 million euros in the second quarter of 2017/2018. Costs for the implementation of the merger between Accenture and SinnerSchrader amounted to a good 0.6 million euros. Adjusted for these transaction-related costs, the EBITA for the quarter amounted to just under 1.4 million euros, 0.15 million euros more than the adjusted EBITA for the second quarter of 2016/2017.
The adjusted EBITA for the first half of 2017/2018 is calculated at 2.3 million euros. The EBITA for the first half-year period was just under 0.2 million euros lower than the figure for the previous year, mainly due to the substantial expansion of the SinnerSchrader team in the half year of the report, by 81 employees, or 15.3 per cent, to 610 employees on 28 February 2018.

After deduction of the transaction costs of just under 1.3 million euros, the Statement of Operations for the first half of 2017/2018 shows an operating result of 1.0 million euros. In the same period of the previous year, which was only somewhat negatively affected by merger costs, the EBITA amounted to 2.2 million euros. After deduction of interest and taxes, a net income of 0.7 million euros, or 0.06 euros per share, remained in the period of the report. The figures for the previous year were 1.6 million euros and 0.14 euros per share, respectively.

With these figures, SinnerSchrader is well on track for the 2017/2018 financial year as a whole. The forecast published in November 2017 - sales revenue of 63.8 million euros, EBITA of 5.2 million euros (adjusted for transaction costs: 7.2 million euros) and net income of 3.5 million euros (adjusted: 4.9 million euros) - is thus confirmed, assuming a stable, positive economic environment.

The temporary substantial increase in funds tied up in working capital at the end of the first quarter was completely eliminated as expected as at the half-year balance-sheet date of 28 February 2018, resulting in a slightly positive operating cash flow for the first half of 2017/2018. After deduction of the investments and the dividend payment made early in February 2018, the liquidity reserve reached 3.8 million euros on 28 February 2018, thus falling short of the figure as at 31 August 2017 by 1.1 million euros.

At the end of the first quarter of 2017/2018, the shareholders' equity ratio was 69.3 per cent, which is a good 6 percentage points more than on 31 August 2017.

The full report of the SinnerSchrader Group for the second quarter and the first half of the 2017/2018 financial year will be published at http://www.sinnerschrader.ag/reports as of 4 p.m. CET on 13 April 2018.

ABOUT SINNERSCHRADER
SinnerSchrader is one of the leading digital agencies in Europe with the focus on the design and development of digital products and services. More than 600 employees work on digital transformation for companies such as Allianz, Audi, comdirect bank, ERGO, Telefónica, TUI, Unitymedia and VW. SinnerSchrader was founded in 1996, has been listed on the stock exchange since 1999 and has offices in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, and Prague. Since April 2017, SinnerSchrader has been part of Accenture Interactive.
http://sinnerschrader.com