SPORTTOTAL AG: First half-year impacted by Corona

- New #DABEI TV channel successfully launched on MagentaTV

- Revenue in the DIGITAL segment more than doubled compared with 1HY 2019

- Revenue at € 12.9 million, EBIT at €-6.4 million

- Digital Annual General Meeting on 9 October 2020: formal discharge for former Supervisory Board member Jean Fuchs to be postponed

Cologne, 30 September 2020. The business operations of SPORTTOTAL AG (ISIN DE000A1EMG56 / WKN A1EMG5) were impacted in the first half year by the negative effects from the Corona lockdown and the ensuing restrictions on travel. No sports events took place for several months, travels of the Porsche Experience were cancelled, live events such as the ADAC TOTAL 24h Race were postponed, and negotiations on the technical equipping and construction of sports facilities delayed. SPORTTOTAL AG nevertheless generated revenue of €12.9 million in the first half of 2020 (1HY 2019: €25.2 million) and limited its operating loss despite the considerably lower level of revenue, delivering EBIT of €-6.4 million (1HY 2019: €-4.3 million). Contributing factors included the very successful launch of the #DABEI TV channel on MagentaTV.

Digital segment doubles revenue
The Digital segment, which combines the activities of sporttotal.tv gmbH, more than doubled revenue in the first half of 2020 to €2.3 million despite the lockdown (1HY 2019: €1.0 million). The lack of advertising revenue - the lockdown prevented current live sport events from taking place - was more than compensated by revenue from the very successful launch of the #DABEI TV channel on MagentaTV. Compared with the previous year, however, the operating result, with EBIT standing at €-3.4 million (1HY 2019: €-1.6 million), underperformed significantly. This development was due, on the one hand, to the non-recurrent positive earnings effect from the charging on of development expenses to Luxembourg-based SPORTTOTAL International SA in the previous year, which was not yet fully included in the consolidation scope at the time and, on the other, to the significant increase in licence fees for the use of third-party software. Thanks to its own camera system sporttotal.tv will be more independent from suppliers in the future, and will be able to implement the rollout and operation of new systems at a considerably lower cost.

VENUES and LIVE particularly hard-hit by the lockdown
The two segments of VENUES (technical equipping of racing circuits and sports facilities) and LIVE (conception, planning, marketing, realisation and medialisation of live events) were particularly hard hit by the lockdown. The revenue of the already fundamentally volatile project business of VENUES only amounted to €0.9 million (1HY 2019: €6.2 million), and the fixed costs meant that EBIT came in at €-1.1 million (1HY 2019: €-0.3 million). Negotiations were delayed due to restrictions on travel, as was the start to the construction work on projects due to local lockdowns. The LIVE segment was also particularly impacted by Corona. Events were postponed or did not take place, while travels of the Porsche Experience were cancelled. Revenues stood at €10.4 million (1HY 2019: €18.5 million), and EBIT posted €-0.3 million (1HY 2019: €+0.6 million). Despite measures such as short-time work, synchronously adjusting the cost structure to the lower level of revenues was not possible.

Confirmation of the forecast for the full year 2020
The revenues lost in the first half of 2020 will only be compensated to a minor extent in the second half of the year. The SPORTTOTAL Group therefore anticipates a revenue level which is lower than in the previous year, with an improvement in EBIT compared with the year before, as the financial year 2019 was burdened by negative special items.

Business regaining momentum in the second half year
The SPORTTOTAL Group's business has slowly regained momentum in the second half of the year. sporttotal.tv is broadcasting live sports events again, the 24h Race was able to take place and discussions about building the Congress Centre in Bahrain have resumed. Cooperation with Onefootball and MagentaTV, technical developments, such as the company's own AI-based camera system, and new orders, for instance from the Czech football federation for the development of a streaming solution, are likely to boost revenue in the second half of 2020.

Digital Annual General Meeting on 9 October 2020
Due to Covid-19, this year's Annual General Meeting of SPORTTOTAL AG will take place for the first time in a digital format and be broadcast from the company's headquarters in Cologne. SPORTTOTAL AG's management has put forward the proposal to the regular Annual General Meeting to postpone the formal discharge of former Supervisory Board member Jean Fuchs. This is due to the ongoing investigations by the Cologne Public Prosecutors Office on the grounds of suspected breach of trust and violation of confidentiality as a Supervisory Board member of SPORTTOTAL AG and SPORTTOTAL INTERNATIONAL S.A.


About SPORTTOTAL AG:
SPORTTOTAL AG (ISIN: DE000A1EMG56), headquartered in Cologne, is a technology and media company on a growth path in the rapidly scalable digital business with video platforms and communities (DIGITAL), in the high-margin national and international project business (VENUES), as well as in the live events business (LIVE). The company, which was founded in 1979, operates a high-traffic portal through sporttotal, with strong growth for online sport videos and live streaming. The company equips sports clubs with special camera technology which enables sports events to be transmitted live in a high quality and fully automatically on sporttotal. SPORTTOTAL AG's service portfolio also comprises the technical equipping of racing circuits and sports facilities, as well as the production and marketing of sports events such as the ADAC TOTAL 24-Hour Race at the Nürburgring. In addition, SPORTTOTAL AG also produces content for prestigious companies such Porsche, Audi, Mercedes/AMG, Red Bull and VW, operates the #DABEI linear TV station, and organises high-calibre live events such as the Porsche Experience.

For more information: www.sporttotal.com

SPORTTOTAL AG
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Tel.: +49 (0)221_7 88 77_ 0
Fax: +49 (0)221_7 88 77_ 199
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