exceet Group SE: Financial Results 2017 (Annual -2-

DJ exceet Group SE: Financial Results 2017 (Annual Report) Solid Electronics Portfolio

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*Financial Results 2017 (Annual Report) * 
 
*Solid Electronics Portfolio* 
 
*- *Total Group sales at EUR 143.4 million (2016: EUR 135.3 million), 
Organic Growth1) excluding currency effect +6.6% compared to 2016 
 
- EBITDA amounted to EUR 9.5 million (2016: EUR 8.1 million) and included EUR 
1.7 million non-recurring costs for restructuring. The margin increased to 
6.6% (+0.6 percentage points). 
 
- Impairment charges of EUR 12.4 million (Q4 2017: EUR 1.6 million) 
 
- Cash Flow from operating activities improved by EUR 8.0 million to EUR 8.3 
million. 
 
- Order Backlog1) on 31 December 2017 EUR 107.3 million (+16.4% against end of 
2016) 
 
- On 31 December 2017, cash amounts to EUR 29.0 million (2016: EUR 30.9 
million); 
Net Cash1) reached EUR 0.7 million (2016: Net Debt1) EUR 5.4 million); 
Equity Ratio1) of 57.3% (2016: 55.4%). 
 
- New majority shareholder White Elephant S.à r.l. holds 56.07% of exceet's 
registered share capital as of 20 November 2017 and has announced to apply a 
value-enhancing strategy to the Group's portfolio of activities jointly with 
Management and Board of Directors. 
 
*Luxembourg, 28 February 2018 *- After a number of milestone achievements in 
2016, the year 2017 was characterized by a further decisive restructuring and 
cleaning-up of the balance sheet with total impairments of EUR 12.4 million. 
In an overall supportive economic and market environment, the solid basis of 
the Group helped to restore a robust top line and bottom line growth. Factors 
influencing the final business figures were cost cutting benefits on the one 
side, but restructuring related additional cost and impairment of intangible 
assets on the other side. exceet's business was pushed mainly by higher sales 
out of industrial projects and operational improvements. The operational cash 
flow improved visibly. With White Elephant S.à r.l., exceet has a new majority 
shareholder supporting the Group's portfolio of activities in order to create 
and enhance value. exceet's business is bearing further opportunities with a 
strong order backlog figure of EUR 107.3 million. 
 
1) See exceet Group Consolidated Financial Statements note 33 "Alternative 
Performance Measures (APM)" Page 102 available at 
http://www.exceet.com/fileadmin/exceet/downloads/ir/gesch_bericht/exceet_Group 
_SE_Annual_Report_2017.pdfpage=102 [1] 
 
*Electronic Components, Modules & Systems (ECMS*) sales increased by 6.2% to 
EUR 134.0 million (2016: EUR 126.2 million) with higher volumes out of 
existing projects, new projects overcompensating lower sales from projects at 
the end of their life cycle and a lower level of PCB deliveries at the 
beginning of the year. EBITDA reached EUR 14.4 million against EUR 12.9 
million in 2016. The EBITDA Margin1) increased accordingly from 10.3% in 2016 
to 10.7% in 2017. This was supported by the leverage resulting from higher 
sales along stable costs and includes costs of EUR 0.9 million out of the 
restructuring measures in 2017. 
 
In the micro- and opto-electronics business, a number of new customer projects 
like a micro-camera based recognition of codes and optical analysis in complex 
environments were won. Additionally, customers of the unit based in Berlin/DE 
benefit from a unique spectrum of high-end chip-level technologies realized in 
state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities. The high-end PCB business located in 
Küssnacht/CH concentrates on miniaturized applications for the medical and 
industrial market and focuses on new developments for the semi-additive 
process, a proven production method used on rigid and flexible materials 
enabling ultra-fine circuitry. 
 
The increasing importance of hardware/software integration has been leading 
the way for certain innovations in 2017 such as an industrial-use developer 
kit based on a raspberry pi compute module. First customers already use this 
technologically standardized, secure plug-and-play solution. In addition, 
different customizable CPU platforms on the basis of the microprocessor family 
i.MX6 are available. Clients are strongly interested in this microprocessor 
related product suite as well as in panels, web terminals, medical grade body 
wearables and homecare solutions for patient monitoring. Furthermore, exceet 
engineers developed a unique concept for a decentralized, energy-efficient, 
space-saving and award-winning ventilation system for buildings together with 
a customer. 
 
*exceet Secure Solutions (ESS)* achieved sales of EUR 9.4 million during the 
reporting period (2016: EUR 9.2 million). The segment is focused on secure 
remote services, IT Security and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) projects 
and solutions. As of 31 December 2017 the costs of current projects of EUR 1.1 
million (2016: EUR 1.3 million) have been capitalized as work in progress with 
expected future revenues. The negative EBITDA of EUR 2.2 million (2016: minus 
EUR 1.2 million) includes restructuring costs for Düsseldorf/DE of EUR 0.8 
million). In 2017, the segment launched "exceet connect", a modular product 
suite which ensures secure communication between users and devices and 
guarantees protection against tapping and manipulation of data while giving 
the customer the choice of different security levels. Additionally, the 
segment further improved eHealth, eSignature and Hardware Security Module 
(HSM) related developments. 
 
1) See exceet Group Consolidated Financial Statements note 33 "Alternative 
Performance Measures (APM)" Page 102 available at 
http://www.exceet.com/fileadmin/exceet/downloads/ir/gesch_bericht/exceet_Group 
_SE_Annual_Report_2017.pdfpage=102 [1] 
 
Besides HSM products, exceet provides a spectrum of HSM Services including 
customized software development, executed for a leading provider of carrier 
and cloud-neutral colocation data-center-services in Europe. Within its IoT 
projects, ESS offers the whole value chain including customer specific 
hardware, software and services. The market for industry routers and 
customized gateways grew strongly in 2017. The unit in Zirndorf/DE will move 
to a larger location in 2018 to cover future growth and to optimize the work 
flow conditions. ESS won a project from a German e-mobility start-up for the 
development of a charging solution for electric vehicles using 100% green 
electricity. Additionally, remote control and remote service projects for wind 
power stations and thermal power stations were realized. 
 
*Outlook* 
 
exceet closed the financial year 2017 with satisfactory results on the whole. 
Going forward, the Group is now ready to gain further visible organic business 
improvements in its activities portfolio. This is supported by the excellent 
shape of the economy, which is actually characterized by a broad and 
convincing increase of corporate and public investments. As it was the case 
for the previous quarters, the current strong order backlog figures amounting 
to more than EUR 100 million should certainly be positively interpreted as a 
good indicator of the Group's business opportunities in the coming months. 
Without extraordinary events, sales should at least rise in accordance to 
market growth, which could gain additional momentum. This should increase the 
EBITDA-Margin visibly in 2018 supported by cost-efficient corporate 
structures. 
 
After a resolute cleaning of the balance sheet in the past reporting periods 
with regards to the adjustment of valuations of former acquisitions and 
business units being restructuring and streamlining processes, the 
finalization of these adjustments in 2017 will therefore narrow the gap 
between the operational profitability as measured by the EBITDA and the net 
result. Additionally, the management will pay substantial attention to the 
generation of Free Cash Flow1) and sustainably sound balance sheet ratios. 
 
Although the big picture seems to be positive, some risks should be closely 
tracked. Macro-economic risk factors that were broadly discussed at the 
beginning of last year did not disappear. Market sentiment could deteriorate 
quickly due to a prolonged and even increasing strength of the Euro or a 
likely change towards a tighter monetary policy. New tensions within the 
Eurozone and other political conflicts could undermine the newly regained 
propensity to invest. Above all, global indebtedness remains an unsolved 
issue. As outlined earlier, the current booming economy has generated longer 
lead times for specific electronic components. An increasingly crucial factor 
for future growth is the general lack of highly qualified employees. 
 
1) See exceet Group Consolidated Financial Statements note 33 "Alternative 
Performance Measures (APM)" Page 102 available at 
http://www.exceet.com/fileadmin/exceet/downloads/ir/gesch_bericht/exceet_Group 
_SE_Annual_Report_2017.pdfpage=102 [1] 
 
Apart from that, regulatory hurdles and bureaucratic requirements rise 
steadily and tend to become obstacles to innovation. Referring to the medtech 
sector, the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) is considered hostile to 
innovation by some manufacturers. Particularly, small start-ups within the 
sector are suffering from lengthy admission procedures and refinancing issues. 
 
exceet sees potential for value creation by optimizing its portfolio of 
activities according to the Group's overall business purpose of enhancing the 
value of exceet. Therefore, the Group considers possible divestments of 
certain operations of its broad-based electronics business as well as 
selective investments in new activities, both solely on the basis of 
commercial considerations. 
 
*Annex: Performance and Structural Data full year 2017* 
Complete Annual Report 2017 available at 
http://www.exceet.com/fileadmin/exceet/downloads/ir/gesch_bericht/exceet_Group 
_SE_Annual_Report_2017.pdf [1] 
 
and Company Presentation at 
http://ir.exceet.com/fileadmin/exceet/downloads/ir/presentations/exceet_Group_ 
Financial_Results_2017_Company_Presentation.pdf [2] 
 

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February 28, 2018 14:18 ET (19:18 GMT)

*Please contact for further information:* 
 
*Wolf-Günter Freese, CEO & CFO - Email: *[e-mail] 
exceet Group SE 
115 avenue Gaston Diderich 
L-1420 Luxembourg 
Phone [phone] 
 
ISIN LU0472835155 (Public Shares), Regulated Market, Prime Standard, 
Frankfurt/Main 
 
*exceet will announce first quarter results 2018 on 30 April 2018* 
(after closing of the market) 
 
*About exceet* 
exceet is a portfolio of international technology companies which are 
specialized in the development and production of intelligent, complex and 
secure electronics. 
 
End of Media Release 
Additional features: 
 
Document: http://n.eqs.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=OBCQCKUHYM [3] 
Document title: Financial Results 2017 
 
Issuer: exceet Group SE 
Key word(s): Select 
 
2018-02-28 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by DGAP - a service 
of EQS Group AG. 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
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Archive at www.dgap.de 
Language: English 
Company:  exceet Group SE 
          115, avenue Gaston Diderich 
          L-1420 Luxemburg 
          Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 
Phone:    [phone] 
Fax:      [phone] 
E-mail:   [e-mail] 
Internet: www.exceet.ch 
ISIN:     LU0472835155, LU0472839819 
WKN:      A0YF5P, A1BFHT 
Listed:   Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated 
          Unofficial Market in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange 
 
End of News DGAP Media 
 
659135 2018-02-28 
 
 
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February 28, 2018 14:18 ET (19:18 GMT)