EQS-News: Vita 34 returns to growth path in 2023

Vita 34 returns to growth path in 2023

• Group revenue increases by 11.8 percent to EUR 77.1 million in challenging environment
• Core markets still characterized by weakness, but bottom appears to have been passed
• EBITDA of EUR 5.6 million significantly improved compared to previous year, despite extraordinary one-offs
• Operating cash flow of EUR 9.2 million almost tripled in comparison to the previous year
• Further strengthening of organic growth targeted for 2024

Leipzig, 30 April 2024 – Vita 34 AG, the leading cell bank in Europe and the third largest in the world, was able to further improve its overall business development in the final quarter of 2023 and was able to achieve visible growth at Group level again. At the same time, consistent cost and liquidity management led to a noticeable improvement in earnings compared to the previous year.

At EUR 77.1 million, Group revenue increased by 11.8 percent compared to the previous year (2022: EUR 68.9 million). In an environment that remains challenging overall and is characterized by declining birth rates, the company succeeded in achieving organic revenue growth again on a quarterly basis. While development in Germany and the Middle East was still marked by pronounced weakness at the end of the year, growth was primarily driven by positive developments in Hungary, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey, as well as stabilization in Poland. The number of contract renewals also continued to develop very positively.

“Overall, we succeeded in holding our own in a persistently difficult economic environment and compensating for effects of inflation. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the financial burden on private households resulting from the rise in Inflation and the changed interest rate environment is easing. There are signs of more leeway for private consumption again,” explains Jakub Baran, CEO of Vita 34 AG. “In addition, consistent cost and liquidity management has led to our earnings development being significantly better than in the previous year. Our investments in newly emerging areas obviously had a negative impact on our earnings in 2023. However, we assume that we will noticeably improve our development in the CDMO area in 2024. We plan to finance our further investments in Cell and Gene therapies largely from the available liquidity in our subsidiary FamiCordTx and from a current project that has already been approved by the Agency for Medical Research (ABM) in Poland. We are also going to initiate discussions with new potential investors at FamiCordTx.”

At EUR 5.6 million, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved significantly compared to the previous year (2022: EUR -3.6 million). At the same time, there were a number of extraordinary charges that the company had already reported in publications. These primarily include one-off charges for the reduction in the size of the Management Board, the costs of the capital increase, consulting costs in connection with internal investigations at a subsidiary and in connection with the legal dispute against the licensor of the CAR-T technology and an unexpected charges for the 2022 audit. In total, the extraordinary charges from the aforementioned items amounted to EUR 1.5 million. The EBITDA margin in the fourth quarter was therefore also slightly lower than in the third quarter. However, this development is due to the aforementioned one-off charges, while the purely operating margin remained at a similar level to the previous quarter.

The key figures for business development are as follows:

At EUR 9.2 million, operating cash flow was also significantly higher than in the previous year (2022: EUR -4.5 million). In addition to consistent liquidity management, the restructuring of credit facilities also had a significant impact here. Old credit lines were repaid in full and transferred to new lines at Group level. Cash and cash equivalents increased by 6.9 percent to EUR 17.5 million compared to the end of 2022.

The Management Board views the Group’s performance in the past financial year, and particularly in the second half of 2023, as a positive sign for improved business development in the current year 2024. A further slowdown in inflation, falling interest rates and real wage gains in private households are likely to lead to a further brightening of the economic environment. In anticipation of such a development, the Group has already begun to intensify its investments in marketing and sales again at the end of 2023. Significant effects from the measures taken are not expected until the second half of the year though. Overall, however, this should contribute to a further improvement in the revenue and earnings situation of Vita 34. Accordingly, the Management Board expects revenues of between EUR 81 und 88 million with EBITDA of between EUR 6.5 and 8.0 million in 2024.

Contact:
Vita 34 AG
Investor Relations
Phone: +49 (0341) 487920
Email: ir@vita34.de

Company profile
Vita 34 was founded in Leipzig in 1997 and is today by far the leading cell bank in Europe and the third largest worldwide. As Europe's first private cord blood bank and a pioneer in cell banking, the company has since offered collection logistics, processing and storage of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord tissue and other postnatal tissues as a full-service cryopreservation provider. Due to the expansion of its business model following the merger with PBKM, the company plans to invest in cell and gene therapies and CDMO. The body's own cells are a valuable starting material for medical cell therapy and are kept alive in the vapor of liquid nitrogen. Customers from around 50 countries have already ensured the health of their families with about 1 million units of stored biological material at Vita 34.