DGAP-News: curasan battles economy political headwinds despite strong domestic demand

- Net consolidated sales of the first nine months decline to EUR 4.4 million

- Sales development of the regions MENA and USA below expectations

- Positive impulses from Germany and the Asian markets

Kleinostheim, 22 November 2018 - curasan AG (ISIN DE0005494538), a leading specialist in medical products in the field of orthobiologics, was unable to build on the positive business performance of the first half of the year in the third quarter. On the one hand, the geopolitical and economic situation in the Middle East was reflected in a much more difficult sales situation in the region. On the other hand, sales with Ceracell Ortho Foam approved by the FDA in September in North America were significantly below expectations.

Accordingly, at EUR 4.4 million, net consolidated sales were 7 percent lower than in the previous year (9M 2017: EUR 4.7 million). At EUR 2.4 million, gross profit was disproportionately lower (9M 2017: EUR 3.1 million) due to a higher proportion of sales of merchandise and required value adjustments. At the same time, this shows the relevant reasons for the decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which fell by 52 percent to EUR -2.8 million. (9M 2017: 1.9 mEUR). In addition to the reduced gross profit, increased investments in the expansion of the sales structure in the US focus market contributed to this development. By contrast, the decline in net income to EUR -3.4 million was more moderate at -16 percent year-on-year (9M 2017: EUR 2.9 million), which is largely attributable to one-off effects in 2017.

The key performance indicators for the first nine months of 2018 are as follows:
 

"It is extremely sobering that, in addition to the challenges we face in our day-to-day business, we also currently have to contend with political imponderables in regions that are important to us," explains Michael Schlenk, CEO of curasan AG. "The decline of the Turkish Lira makes it almost impossible for us and our partners to generate sales in Turkey. Parts of the MENA region have been subject to trade restrictions, which have cut us off from important sales channels overnight. And on the whole, the tense economic situation has recently led to a steadily worsening payment morale in the region." On the other hand, the German market developed positively, with sales increasing by around 16 percent to 1.0 million euros. This shows that the newly initiated Allianz management concept has been very well received by the market and is leading to rising demand.

Sales by region developed as follows in the first nine months of 2018:
 

Following the capital increase in August through a private placement with KLK Holdings Ltd, and in order to strengthen its equity situation, on October 4, 2018, the company announced the implementation of a further capital increase by issuing 1,671,120 new shares against cash contributions, excluding the subscription rights of existing shareholders. The new shares were subscribed in full by Donau Invest Beteiligungs Ges.m.b.H, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, in a private placement at a price of EUR 1.05 per share. The additional cash and cash equivalents of around EUR 1.8 million will probably be sufficient to finance business operations until the end of the first half of 2019 based on current business performance.

The main other key financial figures are as follows:
 

The Management Board expects to close the 2018 financial year as communicated in the full-year forecast adjusted on October 22, 2018.

Further information on curasan AG and its products is available at www.curasan.com.
Contact curasan AG:
Andrea Weidner
Head of Investor Relations &
Corporate Communications
+49 6027 40 900-51
ir@curasan.com

About curasan AG:
curasan develops, manufactures and markets biomaterials and medical devices in the field of bone and tissue regeneration, wound healing and osteoarthritis therapy. As a pioneer and global technology leader in the growing field of regenerative medicine, curasan is specialized primarily on biomimetic bone grafting materials for dental, oral/maxillofacial, orthopedic and spinal applications, i.e. materials mimicking biological structures. Numerous patents and a broad record of scientific publications demonstrate the clinical success of the products and the highly innovative strength of curasan. Dental and orthopaedic clinicians worldwide benefit from the broad range of the premium quality and easy to use portfolio offered by the technology leader curasan.

curasan maintains its own high-tech facilities for research, development and manufacturing of biomaterials in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. In addition to its headquarters, the company has a subsidiary, curasan, Inc., in Wake Forest, near Raleigh, N.C., USA. curasan's innovative products are cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and many other international authorities and available in almost 50 countries worldwide. curasan AG is a public company listed in the General Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE0005494538).