• Gross profit increases to € 10.7 million (+ 24 %)
• EBITDA reaches € 3.9 million (+ 57 %)
• Free cash flow at € 1.2 million significantly exceeds previous year (+ € 2.4 million)
• Net financial assets increased to € 3.1 million (12/31/2020: € 2.3 million)
• Consolidated surplus increased significantly to € 0.9 million and EPS to € 0.25

The ecotel Group started off the year 2021 with huge success. The »ecotel Business Solutions« and »easybell« segments achieved sustainable revenue growth in combination with an increase in gross profit. As there was no significant change in the cost basis, the Group can report EBITDA of € 3.9 million (prev. year: € 2.5 million) for the first quarter 2021. Since depreciations remained at the previous year's level, EBIT increased by € 1.4 million to € 2.0 million. As a result, the Group achieved a surplus of € 0.9 million (prev. year: € 0.1 million) with EPS of € 0.25 (prev. year: € 0.02) in the first quarter.

Significant segment developments

ecotel Business Solutions: Revenue, gross profit margin and EBITDA achieve sustainable growth

The »ecotel Business Solutions« segment was able to continue the positive development of fourth quarter 2020.

In the first three months of 2021, revenue increased to € 11.9 million (prev. year: € 11.5 million). After completion of the transformation process of the past years the growth potentials for the core segment »ecotel Business Solutions« are becoming more apparent.

In addition to revenue growth, the development of the gross profit margin is especially noteworthy. The latter increased significantly to 55.8 % (prev. year: 50.7 %). Gross profit for the segment therefore increased to € 6.7 million (prev. year: € 5.8 million).

Operating expenses, in particular personnel and other operating expenses, remained virtually stable in the quarterly comparison, so that the increase in the gross profit simultaneously led to a significant increase in EBITDA to € 1.8 million (prev. year: € 1.1 million). This corresponds to an increase of about 60 % compared to the first quarter of the previous year.

The development of the quarterly figures in the »ecotel Business Solutions« segment shows that the transformation to a network operator was successful. With a clear focus on expansion of the local exchange network (LEN) platform and the network infrastructure, and after migrating virtually all of the customers to the new products and solutions, the focus is now on consistent expansion of the portfolio to further enhance the value chain. It was possible, for example, to offer new integrated solutions for networked home office scenarios, to introduce bundled ecotel All-IP voice and Microsoft Teams products, and to implement a multi-cloud connect service for initial customers that enables connection of ecotel data access to the major cloud providers such as Azure, AWS or Google.

easybell: Revenue, gross profit and EBITDA continue sustainable growth

The »easybell« segment likewise continued the positive development of recent quarters, with growth in revenue, gross profit and EBITDA. By focusing on modern and easy-to-integrate cloud PBX systems for business customers, as well as All-IP telephony with or without a base line, revenue increased significantly to € 6.2 million (prev. year: € 5.0 million). The high scalability of the business model, in combination with primarily in-house development of the product platform, as well as streamlined and automated processes, provides for an increase in gross profit to € 3.4 million (prev. year: € 2.3 million). In the first quarter 2021 this segment achieved EBITDA of € 1.9 million (prev. year: € 1.2 million) and therefore likewise reported growth of about 60 %.

Refined forecast: EBITDA is expected to be at the upper end of the corridor between € 12 and 14 million

The positive business development of the first quarter has led the Management Board to refine the published forecast for 2021. For 2021 the »ecotel Business Solutions« segment is continues to forecast revenue between € 47 and 50 million, with increases in gross profit margins and, consequently, gross profits. The »easybell« segment continues to forecast revenue between € 24 and 26 million, and the »nacamar« segment € 2.0 to 2.5 million. The Management Board forecasts consolidated EBITDA at the upper end of the corridor between € 12 and 14 million for financial year 2021.

The forecast must be considered against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even if the business development has not been significantly affected by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic so far, the overall economic effects for the year 2021 cannot be reliably assessed. The forecasts above take into account the opportunities and risks of future development as best as possible.

About ecotel communication ag:

The ecotel Group (hereinafter »ecotel«), operating throughout Germany since 1998, specializes in the marketing of IT and telecommunications solutions in various segments. The parent company is ecotel communication ag with headquarters in Düsseldorf. Including its subsidiaries and holdings, ecotel has a total of about 300 employees. Currently ecotel serves more than 50,000 customers nationwide, providing 50,000 data connections and more than 360,000 voice channels.

Note:
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