DGAP-News: Intershop continues profitable growth in the first half of 2021

Jena, 22 July 2021 - Intershop Communications AG (ISIN: DE000A254211), a leading independent provider of innovative solutions for omnichannel commerce, increased its consolidated revenues by 11% to EUR 18.3 million in the first half of 2021. With earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 1.0 million (previous year: EUR 0.5 million), the company recorded profitable growth for the sixth consecutive quarter. The successful transformation focused on the cloud business with recurring revenues has made a significant contribution to stabilizing the company's success in the past months.

In the reporting period, cloud and subscription revenues increased by 48% to EUR 5.1 million. Incoming cloud orders (new and existing customers) amounted to EUR 9.7 million in the first six months of 2021, which represents an increase by 31% (previous year: EUR 7.4 million). Cloud ARR (Annual Recurring Revenues) were up 44% to EUR 10.8 million at the end of June 2021 (30 June 2020: EUR 7.5 million). Net New ARR doubled from EUR 0.7 million to EUR 1.5 million.

As a result of the modified business model, revenues from licenses and maintenance declined as expected by 20% to EUR 4.9 million. Service revenues continued to recover in the second quarter of 2021. Revenues thus climbed 20% to EUR 8.2 million (previous year: EUR 6.9 million).

The gross margin improved by another two percentage points to 47%. Operating expenses rose by 11% to EUR 7.6 million. This was mainly attributable to higher investments in the company's own cloud platform, which led to a 48% increase in research and development costs to EUR 2.7 million. Marketing and sales expenses were up 9% to EUR 3.9 million. Administrative expenses increased slightly from EUR 1.5 million to EUR 1.6 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to EUR 1.0 million (previous year: EUR 0.5 million). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at EUR 2.6 million (previous year: EUR 2.3 million). Net income for the period after taxes amounted to EUR 0.7 million (previous year: EUR 0.4 million).

At the interim balance sheet date of 30 June 2021, total assets of the Intershop Group amounted to EUR 39.0 million. Compared to the end of 2020, this represents an increase by 33%, which is mainly attributable to the capitalization of the right of use for the rental of the new office premises at the company headquarters in Jena pursuant to IFRS 16. As a result of the increase in total assets, the equity ratio declined from 56% to 44% at the interim balance sheet date. At EUR 11.6 million, cash and cash equivalents as of 30 June 2021 remained at the same level as at the end of 2020.

Markus Klahn, CEO of Intershop Communications AG: "In my new role as CEO, I am pleased to report a profitable first half of 2021 with high growth. The fact that we recorded a positive result for the sixth quarter in a row shows that the cloud transformation has been successful. Backed by a well-filled pipeline of new customers I am confident that we will achieve our targets for the fiscal year 2021 with the tailwind from the first two quarters."

The company continues to expect incoming cloud orders to rise by at least 10% and Net New ARR to pick up slightly in the full fiscal year 2021. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) are projected to be slightly positive on moderately growing revenues.

The interim report for the first six months of 2021 is available at https://www.intershop.com/en/financial-reports.

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