ecotel presents Q3 figures: Renewed increase in gross profit and EBITDA

• Gross profit increases by 16% to € 9.8 million (Q3 2019: € 8.4 million)
• EBITDA increases by 48% to € 3.0 million (Q3 2019: € 2.0 million)
• Cumulative growth in 2020 of 10 % in gross profit and 20 % in EBITDA
• Free cash flow at €2.7 million; net financial assets at € 1.5 million
• Number of SIP voice channels for business customers increased by 38% in comparison to previous year
• Forecast for 2020 confirmed despite Covid-19 pandemic

Düsseldorf, 12 November 2020

In the third quarter 2020 the ecotel Group again achieved growth in gross profit and EBITDA, for an overall increase in the key figures.

In the first nine months of the year 2020 the Group achieved total revenue of € 69.2 million (previous year: € 61.8 million), gross profit of € 27.2 million (previous year: € 24.7 million), and EBITDA of € 7.9 million (previous year: € 6.6 million). With these figures, even under the difficult conditions resulting from the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, ecotel continues to remain well within the forecast plan for 2020.

ecotel Business Solutions: Gross profit increases
Gross profit in the ecotel Business Solutions segment increased in the quarterly comparison by € 0.3 million to € 5.8 million, and in the 9-month comparison by € 0.2 million to € 17.5 million. Revenue in this segment was stable in the quarterly comparison at € 11.7 million and in the 9-month comparison decreased slightly as expected by € 0.7 million to € 34.5 million. The gross profit margin increased by 3 percentage points to more than 50 % compared to the third quarter 2019.

In this segment alone, the SIP voice channels on the new NGN platform increased by 38% to nearly 90,000 compared to the previous year. This brings the goal of 100,000 self-"produced" voice channels within reach. The associated voice minutes likewise increased by 77% in the same period. This dynamic development has already allowed migration of 90 % of previous ISDN voice minutes to high-margin SIP products of the ecotel platform, resulting in a positive development of the gross profit margin.

Finally, the high-performance ecotel SIP trunk was developed and launched as a new product for integration in Microsoft Teams. This solution combines digital and mobile work in online meetings and video conferences with ecotel's high-quality telephony portfolio. Every customer and partner now has a convenient and inexpensive way to combine an existing or new Teams installation with the fixed-line products from ecotel for existing and new subscriber numbers.

easybell: Revenue increased by 15% and gross profit by 31% in comparison with previous year
The easybell segment continued its positive development in the first nine months of the year 2020. Revenue increased by € 2.0 million to € 15.7 million, and the gross profit increased by € 1.9 million to € 8.0 million.

nacamar: Increase in gross profit and EBITDA
With a 16 % increase in revenue, or € 0.2 million to € 1.6 million, the nacamar segment was also able to increase gross profit by 31 %, or € 0.3 million to € 1.1 million.

Group: Increase in EBITDA and EBIT, positive free cash flow and build-up of net financial assets
Altogether, the Group increased EBITDA by € 1.3 million to € 7.9 million and EBIT by € 1 million to € 2.1 million in the first nine months of the year 2020. Both EBITDA (by € 1.0 million) and EBIT (€ 0.9 million) also increased in the quarterly comparison.

Free cash flow totalled € 2.7 million, an increase of € 0.8 million compared to the first nine months of the previous year. Financial loans totalling € 1.3 million were paid back as scheduled and disbursements totalling € 1.0 million were paid to non-controlling shareholders. Nevertheless, net financial assets increased by € 0.5 million to € 1.5 million in comparison with end of year 2019.

Of course, the overall business development will continue to be influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. The top priority in our daily activities is the safety of the employees, in addition to maintaining all services.

So far the Covid-19 pandemic has had only minor effects on ecotel's business development. In view of the current increase in the number of infections, reliable planning as to how long this trend will continue is not possible. However, we believe ecotel is well prepared and well situated to cope with the developments of the year 2020.

In consideration of all currently known opportunities and risks the Management Board reconfirms the forecast for 2020 and expects revenue in a corridor of € 46 to 49 million in the core segment ecotel Business Solutions, with a slight increase in the gross profit margin. Revenue of € 20 million to € 21 million is anticipated for the easybell segment, and revenue of € 1.5 to € 2.5 million is anticipated for the nacamar segment.

EBITDA is expected to be within the upper end of the forecast corridor of € 8.5 to 10.5 million.

About ecotel communication ag:

The ecotel Group (hereinafter »ecotel«) has been operating nationwide in Germany since 1998 and specialises in the marketing of IT and telecommunications solutions in different 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 300,000 voice channels.

Note:
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