_ Preliminary consolidated revenue up around 6% at EUR 120.8 million
_ Significant increase in preliminary operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of approx. 75% at EUR 10.5 million
_ Acquisitions support growth momentum
_ Management Board confirms forecast for the 2021 financial year

Munich, 28 April 2021 Today, Blue Cap AG is publishing encouraging preliminary figures for the first half of 2021. After a solid start to the year, the second quarter also ended on a positive note. The preliminary financial figures are within the range forecast for the current year and are above the previous year’s figures.

The first half of the year was dominated by the lockdown measures that were still in place at the beginning of the year and the tense situation on the procurement markets. Price increases in the plastics market particularly affected the subsidiary Uniplast, which was able to pass on some of the higher granulate prices to its customers. Hero suffered a slight decline in revenue compared to planning due to production interruptions in the automotive industry as a result of the continuing shortage of semiconductors, and Neschen was affected in particular by the weak trade fair business. The con-pearl Group, on the other hand, closed the first half of the year on a positive note thanks to the positive order trend in packaging. Planatol saw significant growth in both revenue and earnings thanks to forward-looking measures to build up inventory levels.

Despite the challenges, preliminary revenue figures show a rise of 6% to EUR 120.8 million in the first half of the year compared to the same period of the previous year (EUR 113.9 million). The preliminary operating result (adjusted EBITDA) is also within the forecast range and at EUR 10.5 million is up on the previous year’s figure (EUR 6 million). According to preliminary figures, the (adjusted) EBITDA margin improved to 8.4% (previous year: 5%). The rise in revenue and earnings is mainly due to the acquisition and first-time consolidation of Hero GmbH in March 2021 and the overall positive order trend in the Plastics Technology and Adhesive Technology segments. The preliminary adjusted EBIT figure is EUR 5.3 million (previous year: EUR 1.3 million) and corresponds to a margin of 4.2% (previous year: 1.1%). The minority interest Inheco contributed significantly to this improvement. Preliminary equity figures for the Group of approximately EUR 82.8 million remained at the previous year’s level at the end of the first half of the year. This corresponds to a preliminary equity ratio of 37% (previous year: 33.3%) of total assets. The preliminary net debt ratio of 1.7 (previous year: 2.3) is comfortably below the maximum value of 2.75.

Based on the preliminary figures, the Management Board of Blue Cap AG is confirming the forecast for 2021 published in the 2020 annual report on the basis of the current portfolio structure. Tobias Hoffmann-Becking, CIO, is positive about the development: “We are very satisfied with our performance in the first half of the year, during which we had the pleasure of announcing two acquisitions. As the year progresses, we would like to maintain the momentum seen in recent months. This is something we are working on from an operational point of view and also in terms of possible further acquisitions on the M&A side.”

The figures published in this press release are preliminary. The half-year report with further details will be published at the end of August.