DGAP-News: Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG / Key word(s): Preliminary
Results
Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG announces unaudited figures for 2015 and a
package of measures for sustainable profitable growth
31.03.2016 / 08:00
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG announces unaudited figures for 2015 and a
package of measures for sustainable profitable growth
- Sales growth in 2015: sales up 17% at EUR 22.1 million despite delayed
incoming orders
- Forecast for 2016: increase in sales to between EUR 27 million and EUR
33 million and significant improvement in earnings against 2015 -
extensive improvement in efficiency measures shall result in
considerably lower fixed costs in second half of 2016
- Outlook for 2017: gross profit margin to improve by more than 10
percentage points, 30% reduction in staff costs and 15% reduction in
other expenses targeting break even in 2017
Berlin, 31 March 2016 - According to figures that have not yet been
audited, Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG (ISIN DE000A1MMHE3), which is
listed in the Prime Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, generated
sales of EUR 22.1 million in the 2015 financial year (previous year: EUR
18.9 million). Sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 amounted to EUR 10.8
million as compared to EUR 8 million in the same quarter of the previous
year. Despite this increase in sales, the EBITDA will amount to EUR - 11.48
million for the full year in 2015 according to preliminary unaudited
figures (previous year: EBITDA of EUR - 9.47 million). This is due chiefly
to two factors. Firstly, the increased cost base in 2015 as a result of
significant non-recurring costs relating to the capital increase and the
segment change in May 2015, as well as additional fixed costs from
investments in electrolysis technology. Secondly, a fall in gross profits
due to low sales volumes combined with low gross margins, since the
majority of sales were generated in the project business and not in the
high-margin business with energy management systems, maintenance and
operating agreements and fuel-cell-based solutions.
In this context, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of
Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG have introduced an extensive package of
measures with the aim of sustainably increasing the gross profit margin
while also significantly reducing fixed costs by means of improvement in
efficiency measures and a consistent focus on the industrial business.
Ayad Abul-Ella, CEO of the Heliocentris Group, comments: "Over the past two
years, we have significantly expanded our customer base and positioning in
South-East Asia and the Middle East and the portfolio of qualified
components for our turnkey project business, such as batteries, rectifiers
and diesel generators. In the process of resizing our project business, we
also significantly improved the underlying core processes such as
tendering, design, installation and commissioning. This enables us to
achieve further increases in sales from project business as well as
significantly reducing the staff costs and other expenses required."
In addition to cost savings from efficiency enhancements, the second pillar
of the "Roadmap to Profitability" is an improvement in gross margins as a
result of higher sales with energy management software and proprietary
storage systems with major OEM customers and system integrators. This
business is mainly product and licence business, which allows for higher
gross margins and can be resized faster using less capital and fewer
resources.
Ayad Abul-Ella adds: "With the acquisition of FutureE and the establishment
of the development site for electrolysis in Italy, we have strengthened our
technological basis in the field of decentralised energy storage, and at
the beginning of this year we started marketing the first generation of
fuel-cell-based decentralised storage systems with the product name
GenStoreTM. Further innovative decentralised storage systems on a lithium
battery basis will follow over the course of this year. Together with our
software connecT for intelligent operation of base stations, which is also
being marketed to initial customers from the beginning of 2016, we plan to
generate a higher share of sales with products, services and software -
despite rising sales from project business - already during 2017. As a
result, we anticipate an improvement in gross margins of around 10%
compared to 2015, when the largest share of sales was still generated with
turnkey projects."
The measures initiated to reduce costs are largely expected to take effect
in the second half of 2016. The majority of the sales planned for the 2016
financial year of between EUR 27 million and EUR 33 million are anticipated
in the second half of 2016. In view of the expected sales growth combined
with a decreasing cost base, the company anticipates a significant
improvement in earnings in the financial year 2016, driven mainly during
the second half of the year. With the package of measures for sustainably
improving the gross profit margin and the planned increase in sales to a
level of approximately EUR 45 million in the 2017 financial year, the
company expects to break even in operating terms in this year as a whole.
About Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG
Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG is a leading technology provider of energy
management systems and hybrid power solutions for distributed stationary
industrial applications, as well as of products and solutions for
education, training and applied research purposes in the field of fuel
cells, solar, wind and hydrogen energy technologies. Heliocentris' energy
management systems creates intelligent, remote controlled, reliable and
highly efficient hybrid energy solutions from diverse components such as
batteries, photovoltaic modules, conventional diesel generators and fuel
cells. The solutions reduce CO2 emissions by an average of 50% and
operating costs by up to 60% compared to conventional energy solutions for
mobile telecommunications base stations. Heliocentris' fuel cell systems
ensure uninterrupted power supply with long runtimes to critical
infrastructure such as TETRA base stations, back-bone sites in mobile
networks and server stations. The Company employs at present around 222
people and is headquartered in Berlin with offices in Munich, Stuttgart,
Crespina, Dubai, Yangon, Vancouver and Johannesburg. Heliocentris AG's
shares are traded in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
under the security identification number A1MMHE. Further information is
available at www.heliocentris.com.
Contact
Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG
D-12489 Berlin
Rudower Chaussee 29
Tel. +49 (0)30 340 601 500
Fax +49 (0)30 340 601 599
IR@Heliocentris.com
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31.03.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
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Language: English
Company: Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG
Rudower Chaussee 29
12489 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)30 340 601 500
Fax: +49 (0)30 340 601 599
E-mail: ir@heliocentris.com
Internet: www.heliocentris.com
ISIN: DE000A1MMHE3
WKN: A1MMHE
Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated
Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart,
Tradegate Exchange
End of News DGAP News Service
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449925 31.03.2016
DGAP-News: Heliocentris Energy Solutions AG announces unaudited figures for 2015 and a package of measures for sustainable profitable growth
| Source: EQS Group AG