Archive IR news
Archive
Publication of insider information in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EU) no. 596/2014
Strategic focus on innovative access and security solutions
Following the end of the stock market listing on 1 January 2024, we remain committed to successfully advancing the SECANDA Group and offering our remaining and potential new shareholders a perspective and ultimately a more attractive exit option. We would like to thank you for your continued trust. Less is more. That is why we are focussing our efforts on two major topics in 2024.
Firstly, we are striving to bring our access control and time tracking systems up to date and position them as leaders in their category. To achieve this goal, we will continue and accelerate our expansion in this area by focussing our resources on it.
Secondly, we are focussing on current issues such as security, a crucial aspect of modern society. Our focus here is on the development of software solutions to ensure secure user identities and the digitalisation of processes in the area of physical and digital access.
Our chip card and app-based solutions are designed to go beyond their existing functions and applications. They will not only enable the payment of goods and services, but will also become the central point for the control and digitalisation of entire processes.
In future, SECANDA will be more than just opening and paying!
Restructuring and cost reduction, business development
SECANDA AG is reorganising its business in Germany and has bundled its largest subsidiaries in Germany to form SECANDA Systems AG for this purpose. After the conversion of InterCard GmbH into SECANDA Systems AG and the merger of the subsidiary IntraKey technologies AG into the company, the newly acquired subsidiary H. Schomäcker GmbH was also recently merged into SECANDA Systems AG.
The merger of the three companies is accompanied by significant cost reductions, which are currently being implemented as a package. Duplicate structures will be significantly reduced and personnel resources will be used more efficiently at the same time.
The cost reductions should make the SECANDA Group clearly profitable again from 2024, even if new markets and existing markets continue to develop as cautiously as they have recently.
Also due to the restructuring costs including severance payments, the SECANDA Group is not expected to close the current financial year with a profit. The current cost-cutting measures complement the first cost reductions in the Group, which had already been decided at the beginning of the year.
Half-year figures 2023
SECANDA AG (formerly InterCard) closed the first half of 2023 with revenue growth to EUR 12,099 thousand. In the same period of the previous year, the group’s revenues amounted to KEUR 10,844. This is due to the positive business development in our DIGITAL ACCESS & CYBER SECURITY division, which grew from kEUR 2,351 to kEUR 3,253. The remaining growth is acquisition-related, after the PHYSICAL ACCESS & TIME area largely stagnated. The IDENTIFICATION & PAYMENT segment did not yet meet our expectations in the first half of 2023.
In the first half of the year, EBITDA in the Group according to IFRS was KEUR 41 (previous year: 730), EBIT was KEUR -555 (previous year: 190), EBT was KEUR -661 (previous year: 112) and net income was KEUR -555 (previous year: 103).
Already at the beginning of the year, it was decided to significantly reduce costs across the Group. The cost reductions will take full effect in the second half of this year. The next step is no longer just about cost reductions, but rather a realignment and restructuring of the largest subsidiary SECANDA Systems AG.
Admittedly, the new smart card and app-based systems have been and are still being commissioned with delay by the universities and in the new markets. Nevertheless, it has become apparent that the new systems are in demand on the market and are being purchased. Several universities and student unions have already commissioned one of the new systems, which enables the parallel operation of chip card and app.
Veritable further offers have been placed. However, decision-making is complex, also because different areas of responsibility are involved. At the same time, client resources for decisions and tenders are very strained after the end of the pandemic.
After a low turnover and a loss in the first half of 2023, we expect a profit again in the second half of 2023.
Termination of the inclusion in m:access and discontinuation of the listing in the Regulated Unofficial Market on the Munich Stock Exchange
The Munich Stock Exchange has notified SECANDA AG that the inclusion of the Company’s shares in m:access will end at the end of 15 August 2023 and the listing on the Open Market of the Munich Stock Exchange will end at the end of 29 December 2023.
Shareholders approve complete delisting from the Regulated Unofficial Market
The Annual General Meeting of SECANDA AG, Villingen-Schwenningen, today approved under agenda item 5 the preparation and implementation of a complete delisting of the shares of SECANDA AG from the open market (hereinafter: “Delisting”). The delisting includes in particular
- applications for revocation of the inclusion of the shares of SECANDA AG in the Regulated Unofficial Market of the Munich Stock Exchange and the listing in the m:access segment of the Munich Stock Exchange, and
- declarations to all other domestic stock exchanges that there is no consent to the continuation of stock exchange trading with respect to the shares of SECANDA AG.
The Annual General Meeting also decided that the Executive Board would continue to decide on the further details of the procedure within the scope of its management authority. All resolutions were passed by a majority.
The Management Board will initiate the measures required for the delisting after publication of this notice. It is not yet foreseeable when trading of SECANDA AG shares on the Munich Stock Exchange and other domestic stock exchanges will finally be discontinued.
Change in the Supervisory Board
Our long-standing member of the Supervisory Board, Mr Holger Bürk, has informed us today that he will resign from his mandate as a member of the Supervisory Board of SECANDA AG as of 15 June 2023.
As he informed us, his decision is related to the upcoming vote of the Annual General Meeting on a delisting.
We would like to thank Mr Bürk for the trustful cooperation and his dedicated commitment in our supervisory body, which he has been a member of since 2013. Due to his proximity to the financial markets and his technical IT background, he has always been a valuable professional addition to our committees and a much appreciated discussion partner. We very much regret his departure from the Supervisory Board of SECANDA AG.
The Management Board