EQS-News: AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS: A strong multinational technology company in payments & digital security

EQS-News: AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG / Key word(s):
Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous
AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS: A strong multinational technology company in
payments & digital security

24.01.2024 / 08:30 CET/CEST
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS Group is today one of the oldest Greek companies,
having more than 125 years of history, and with the Group’s journey
starting in 1897 as a printing house under the name „Lykos“. After almost
ninety years, in 1982, when Nikos Lykos, a representative of the 4^th
generation, took over the management, the company was transformed and
repositioned strategically from the traditional printing sector to the
Information Management sector, and as a consequence the company was
renamed INFORM P. Lykos S.A.

Since 1982 and the beginning of its radical business transformation, the
company has been constantly growing and gradually transforming into a
thriving multinational company with a global reach and an international
business footprint. In this continuous growth path, a key milestone for
the company was in 2007, when it proceeded with the acquisition of
AUSTRIACARD from the Central Bank of Austria, a company that supplied
Austrian banks with bank cards and their operating system. This strategic
move marks the beginning of the Group’s exponential growth, which,
combined with organic growth, as well as a sequence of acquisitions in
Romania (NEXTDOCS in 2019, PINK POST in 2023), Andorra (TAG Systems in
2019), USA (TAG USA in 2019), Cyprus (CLOUDFIN in 2021) and UK (NITECREST
in 2021), completed its portfolio of service offerings while expanded into
the markets of South East, Central and Western Europe, Scandinavia,
Türkiye, Middle East, Africa and USA.

As a result of this strong growth, at the end of 2022, the cross-border
merger between the Group’s parent company, AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG and its
Greek subsidiary INFORM P. Lykos S.A. took place, which led to the listing
of the shares of the entire Group on the Vienna and the Athens Stock
Exchange in March 2023, thus enabling investors to participate as
shareholders in the entire business of the Group.

The Group’s international customer base currently benefits from a
complementary portfolio of B2B products, services and solutions, including
high security services, smart cards, personalisation and payment
solutions, as well as secure data management and digital transformation
solutions. The Group has a very strong pan-European operational footprint,
from the UK to Greece and Türkiye, with seven manufacturing facilities and
seven personalisation centres in Europe, plus an additional
personalisation centre in the US, and currently employs around 2,500
people. Indicative of the Group’s strong growth momentum is the fact that
it is rapidly expanding into markets beyond the ones it traditionally
served, such as the challenger/neon bank market worldwide, in the US
through a new personalisation centre, and in the Middle East and Africa,
where sales units have been developed, significantly expanding the scope
of its activities.

A dynamic, global presence as a trigger for strong economic growth

As a result of AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS‘ growth extroversion and good
management, impressive financial performance has been achieved in recent
years. Comparing the financial results between 2017 and 2022, we observe
that revenues increased at a cumulative annual growth rate of 21.4%, from
€119.4 million in 2017 to €314.7 million in 2022, Adjusted Earnings Before
Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (Adj. EBITDA) increased at
a cumulative annual growth rate of 31.0%, from €10.2 million to €39.4
million, and Adjusted Earnings Before Taxes (Adj. EBT) increased at a
cumulative annual growth rate of 79.9%, from €1.1 million to €20.7
million.

In 9M 2023, the Group continued its strong performance with a 13.1%
increase in revenues, reaching €261.5 million, 11.6% growth in adjusted
EBITDA, which reached €36.5 million, and 33.2% growth in net profit, which
reached €14.6 million. This strong growth in the 9 months period was
driven by a significant increase in sales of payment products and services
in the Turkish market, as well as printing and postal services in the
Romanian market, which more than offset the decrease in sales in security
forms related to the Kenya elections project (€25 million) implemented in
2022.

Notably, as part of the Kenya project, AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS undertook the
production of 120 million ballot papers, which met all modern security
standards, their special packaging and dispatch, and the monitoring of
their safe delivery. A similar type of project was previously undertaken
in Nigeria, as the company is constantly seeking to undertake one-off
projects of this magnitude, as activities of this type are part of the
Group’s strategy to expand into new markets by leveraging its high level
of expertise and production infrastructure in the security forms printing
sector.

Excluding the impact of the Kenyan election project, from the 2022
comparatives, Group revenue, adjusted EBITDA and net profit after tax
increased in 9M 2023 by 26.6%, 36.9% and 133.3% respectively.

Regarding stock market issues, during last August the company carried out
a capitalisation of reserves resulting in the doubling of the number of
its shares, a development that enhanced the marketability of its shares,
while in December 2023 the company’s share buyback program was activated.

In December also the Group’s refinancing was completed, with a financing
agreement for a total amount of €186.6 million signed with a consortium of
10 European banks led by UniCredit. Through the refinancing, all of the
Group’s debt is concentrated at the parent company level, simplifying its
structure, extending its maturity and at the same time significantly
enhancing the funds available to achieve the company’s strategic growth
objectives.

Conclusion

AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG is a technology company that draws upon more than
130 years of experience and innovation in the fields of information
management, smart card production, printing and communications to provide
transparent and secure experiences for its customers. With a leading
position in the industry, through its flexibility and comprehensive
portfolio of solutions offered to its customers, the company is growing
rapidly, and as a result of its strong upward trend, the AUSTRIACARD
HOLDINGS Group now has a presence in 17 countries, commercial activity in
50 countries, and production facilities in 8 countries.

Capitalizing on this global momentum, in recent years the Group has been
experiencing excellent growth and profitability, thus offering a very
attractive, but also rare, combination of value and growth properties for
investors.

 

 

 

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24.01.2024 CET/CEST This Corporate News was distributed by EQS Group AG.
www.eqs.com

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Language: English
Company: AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG
Lamezanstraße 4-8
1230 Vienna
Austria
E-mail: ac.contact@austriacard.com
Internet: https://www.austriacard.com/
ISIN: AT0000A325L0
WKN: A3D5BK
Listed: Vienna Stock Exchange (Official Market)
EQS News ID: 1821341

 
End of News EQS News Service

1821341  24.01.2024 CET/CEST