• Gross profit increases in 1st half-year by 7 % to € 17.4 million
• EBITDA increases in 1st half-year by 7% to € 4.9 million
• Positive free cash flow: € 1.1 million and net financial assets: € 0.3 million
• Forecast for 2020 confirmed despite Covid-19 pandemic
• Business Customers: Number of SIP voice channels increased by 46 % in comparison to previous year  

ecotel Group: Further growth of gross profit and EBITDA

In the first half-year 2020 the group achieved total revenue of € 42.8 million (previous year: € 41.0 million), gross profit of € 17.4 million (previous year: € 16.3 million), and EBITDA of € 4.9 million (previous year: € 4.6 million). With these figures, even under the difficult conditions resulting from the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, ecotel remained within the forecast plan for 2020.

ecotel Business Customers: Gross profit remains stable

Gross profit in the ecotel Business Customers segment remained nearly stable in the first half-year 2020 at € 11.5 million (previous year: € 11.6 million), while revenue decreased slightly by € 0.6 million to € 22.8 million. This is due essentially to a change in the revenue mix following the All-IP migration. Although the new products show a trend toward lower monthly recurring revenue, the substantially higher added value results in a higher gross profit margin.

In this segment alone, the SIP voice channels on the company’s own NGN platform increased by 46 % compared to the previous year, to a total of meanwhile 83,000. This brings the goal of 100,000 selfproduced voice channels within reach. The associated voice minutes likewise increased by 92 % in the same period. This dynamic development has already allowed migration of 90 % of previous ISDN connections to high-margin SIP products of the ecotel platform, which increased the gross profit margin by more than 50 %.

easybell: Revenue increased by 18 % and gross profit by 28 %

The easybell segment was able to continue the successful development of past months in the first halfyear 2020. Revenue increased by 18 % to € 10.4 million (previous year: € 8.8 million) and gross profit increased by 28 % to € 5.0 million (previous year: € 3.9 million).

nacamar: Gross profit

The nacamar segment likewise developed positively with a slight increase in revenue of € 0.1 million to € 1.1 million (previous year: € 1.0 million) and an increase in gross profit of 26 % or € 0.2 million to € 0.7 million (previous year: € 0.5 million).

Group: Increase in EBITDA and EBIT, positive free cash flow and build-up of net assets

Altogether, the group was able to increase EBITDA to € 4.9 million (previous year: € 4.6 million) and EBIT to €1.1 million (previous year: € 1.0 million) in the first half-year 2020.

In the first half-year free cash flow totalled € 1.1 million, an increase of € 0.3 million compared to the same period of the previous year. Financial loans totalling € 0.9 million were paid back as scheduled and disbursements totalling € 1.0 million were paid to non-controlling shareholders. Nevertheless, the group was again able to report positive net assets totalling € 0.3 million as of 30 June 2020.

So far the Covid-19 pandemic has had only minor effects on business developments at ecotel. Although the medium- and long-term effects of the pandemic are not realistically plannable, from the present perspective ecotel is prepared and well-situated for the remaining course 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 Customers, 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 a corridor of € 8.5 to 10.5 million.

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. While the focus at the beginning of the pandemic was more on maintaining critical customer infrastructures and the company’s own business operations, it has been possible in recent weeks to additionally introduce and establish the changed conditions in communication with customers and business partners by means of digital media.

Throughout the remainder of the year ecotel will therefore certify the compatibility of the company’s own SIP products with numerous standard telecom systems, in order to enable even faster and more convenient configuration. The focus is on expanding the services to include additional telephony functions, primarily the cloud-based Centrex system and integration in leading UCC and collaboration solutions such as Microsoft Teams. Especially important in this regard are fast and scalable services on the basis of central, software-based solutions, which can eliminate the need for providing capital-intensive, customerdedicated hardware.

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