- Sales of 44.7 million euros at year-earlier level
- EBITDA in the amount of 5.9 million euros impacted by earn-out obligations and significantly increased expenses for acquisitions of new transformation initiatives
EBITDA impacted by earn-out effects and significantly increased sales activities
As a result of one-off effects and a strong increase in sales expenses, EBITDA came down by 10.4% to 5.9 million euros in the first quarter of 2019/20 by comparison with the equivalent year-earlier period. Accordingly, the EBITDA margin fell to 13.3 % (year-earlier quarter: 14.9 %). Once again, the key one-off effect resulted from the positive development of acquired companies, which was significantly above expectations, in particular ICE Consultants Europe S.L. KPS therefore had to increase the earn-out obligations for acquired companies, which led to a one-off, non-cash-effective additional expense in the amount of 0.6 million euros in the previous quarter. In the absence of this obligation, EBITDA would have been 6.5 million euros, which would correspond to a slight fall of 1.5 % compared with the equivalent year-earlier period.
In the first quarter of 2019/20, KPS also posted sales expenses significantly above the normal range because several transformation initiatives are in the acquisition phase.
EBIT was also influenced by increased depreciation and amortization owing to first-time application of IFRS 16. Accordingly, EBIT came down to 4.1 million (Q1 2018/19: 5.8 million) euros in comparison with the year-earlier quarter. Earnings after taxes (2.8 million euros) were 1.1 million euros below the year-earlier result of 3.9 million euros, with earnings per share amounting to 0.08 euros (Q1 2018/19: 0.10 euros).
Sales and EBITDA forecast confirmed
The Executive Board and Management of KPS AG continue to assume that stable growth will be ongoing in the current business year and confirm the forecast for the business year 2019/2020 issued in January 2020. A slight increase in sales to between 181 million and 191 million euros is expected and a significant increase in EBITDA to an amount within the corridor between 28 million and 36 million euros. The Supervisory Board and the Executive Board of KPS AG are maintaining their strategy of continuing to drive forward innovation, industrialization, and internationalization.
14 February 2020
KPS AG
The Executive Board
