Singulus Technologies AG

Business and Financial Review • Apr 24, 2015

News Details

Corporate | 24 April 2015 07:56

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Establishes Basis for Strategic Repositioning

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

2015-04-24 / 07:56

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Press release

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Establishes Basis for Strategic Repositioning

Planned corporate actions enable sustainable financing and capital structure.

Kahl am Main, April 24, 2015 – The SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG (SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES) progresses the strategic repositioning of the company and accordingly plans an adjustment of the capital structure. This was released in the course of today’s invitation to the ordinary Annual General Meeting to be held on June 9, 2015.

The company reported on the results for the past business year 2014 in the course of the presentation of the annual results on March 31, 2015. Accordingly, the Group incurred a net loss of EUR -51.6 million in the previous business year, which correspondingly reduced the equity on a Group level to EUR 20.1 million as of the end of the year. The main reasons for this development were substantial decreases in volume sales and sales in the Solar and Optical Disc segments as well as the continuing burden of interest payments for the corporate bond.

While the operating activities picked up considerably in the first quarter 2015 and orders exceeding EUR 60 million were already recorded, the earnings situation remains difficult. To secure the economic viability of the company in the long-term and to enable further growth, the Executive Board accelerates the initiated strategic repositioning of the company and intends to adjust the capital structure as an essential basis for this.

Strategic repositioning of the company

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES possesses technologic competencies, which are relevant in many application areas. The core competencies are vacuum thin-film technologies, wet-chemical processes, surface technologies and thermal processing technologies. In the past, the company primarily focused on the application areas Optical Disc, Solar and Semiconductors. Due to the restrained outlook for the Optical Disc division as well as the slump in demand in the Solar segment in the years up to 2014, the company has responded to the structural changes at an early stage and worked on the development of new markets and application areas.

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES works on expanding the activities in the existing segments to new markets and on developing new ideas for innovative product solutions. First successes of this strategy are already visible: for example, with the DECOLINE II a fully-automated coating line for plastic parts was successfully developed and marketed. The strategic repositioning will now be progressed vigorously.

Adjustment of capital structure

The Executive Board will present several corporate actions to be voted for adoption at the Annual General Meeting, which will significantly strengthen the equity of the company and reduce the debt financing.

For the time being, a reduction of the nominal capital to offset losses is planned. In addition, the company is set to be enabled to implement capital increases by means of contribution in kind while excluding the subscription rights. Thus, for example, it would be possible to exchange the issued SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES bond for shares of the company. This is an accepted strategy for a financial restructuring, which includes the conversion of debt owed by the company into shares of the company. Furthermore, the corporate actions serve to maintain the company’s capacity to act in case of strategic options becoming available in the short-term. The possibility of a capital increase with the exclusion of subscription rights against contribution in kind provides for relevant flexibility.

Finally, the company intends to convert the bearer shares into registered shares. This enables a simplified and direct communication with the shareholders. At the same time, this step facilitates the implementation of the planned corporate actions.

For further information about the planned corporate actions and the further development of the company, please refer to: http://www.singulus.de/en/investor-relations/hauptversammlung.html.

Profile SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES develops technologies for economical and resource-efficient production processes.

The application areas include vacuum thin-film and plasma coating for wet-chemical processes as well as thermal process technologies. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES taps new work areas and develops efficient solutions. For all processes and applications SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES benefits from its know-how to expand this expertise in the core segments and to transfer this expertise to new application areas: consumer goods, entertainment, energy, mobility and semiconductors.

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG, Hanauer Landstrasse 103, D-63796 Kahl/Main, ISIN: DE0007238909, WKN: 723890

Contact:

Maren Schuster, Investor Relations, Tel.: + 49 (0) 160 9609 0279

Bernhard Krause, Corporate Communications, Tel.: + 49 (0) 1709202924

Email: bernhard.krause@singulus.de

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Language:	English
Company:	SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG
	Hanauer Landstrasse 103
	63796 Kahl am Main
	Germany
Phone:	+49 (0)1709202924
Fax:	+49 (0)6188 440-110
E-mail:	bernhard.krause@singulus.de
Internet:	www.singulus.de
ISIN:	DE0007238909, DE000A1MASJ4
WKN:	723890, A1MASJ
Listed:	Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart

End of News	DGAP News-Service

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