• Revenues and earnings maintained at a high level in 2021
• Record incoming orders, growth of more than15 per cent
• Digitalisation projects, green transformation of the transport sector and e-mobility present additional growth opportunities

init innovation in traffic systems SE (ISIN DE 0005759807) largely mastered the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic as well as supply bottlenecks during the last financial year and aims to regain the earlier growth momentum after a transitional phase in 2022. "Although we cannot currently determine to what extent the planning and finances of our customers will be affected by the Ukraine conflict, our business continues to be buoyed by sustainable growth trends and worldwide efforts to transform public transport systems. This is expected to result in an increasing number of tenders for digitalisation projects, for which we are well prepared as the international leading provider of integrated solutions for planning, dispatching, telematics and ticketing for buses and trains," stressed the init Managing Board today at its virtual press and analyst conference. From 2023 onwards, init should therefore return to its sustainable growth trajectory of around 10 to 15 per cent annual average growth.

At certain stages of the last financial year, this long-term growth path was impacted by the effects of the coronavirus crisis on public transport systems. In addition, the disruption of global supply chains in the second half of 2021 also had an effect on ongoing projects. When presenting the annual report, the Managing Board nevertheless described the overall business performance in 2021 as positive. At EUR 176.7m, revenues were 2 per cent below the previous year's level (EUR 180.7m).

EBIT margin at 10 per cent

At EUR 17.6m in 2021 (previous year: EUR 19.6m), EBIT also reached close to the projected target corridor of EUR 18m to EUR 20m. The year-on-year decrease is primarily attributable to the delay in deliveries due to the worldwide shortage of raw materials. However, at 10 per cent, the group's EBIT margin was maintained at the previous year's level despite these effects (previous year: 10.9 per cent).

To share this success with the shareholders fairly, the Managing Board proposes a dividend of 55 cents per share for the 2021 financial year. The unchanged dividend is intended as a signal of the futureproof position of the company. At the same time, the net retained profit should be used to strengthen the company's assets for future investments as they become necessary and for further growth. Earnings per share amount to EUR 1.25 in 2021 (previous year: EUR 1.50).

Net assets strengthened

Despite numerous challenges, the development of the init group's net assets was solid in the 2021 financial year and was further reinforced. Equity at year-end increased to EUR 102.6m (previous year: EUR 90.5m). As a result, the equity ratio increased to 47.3 per cent and is significantly above the previous year's ratio (40.0 per cent).

The market for init products is still characterised by a large number of international tenders. The growth factors fuelling demand in our market such as population growth, urbanisation and the fight against climate change remain fundamentally intact. Investment programmes will continue to be implemented around the world to specifically promote digitalisation and the expansion of public transport. The init group registered incoming orders with a total volume of EUR 179.2m (previous year: EUR 154.6m) in the 2021 financial year. This is a historical record for incoming orders in the group and represents growth of more than 15 per cent.

In addition to the major order placed by METRO Houston in the USA, high growth was also generated in the area of electromobility for public transport companies. Long-term customer relationships, such as that with METRO Houston, secure a stable business base for init, as they generally lead to follow-up orders as well as maintenance and operating contracts, which alone resulted in incoming orders of more than EUR 60m in 2021. The order backlog at year-end stood at EUR 135.4m (previous year: EUR 125.8m). "We expect that the majority of the budgeted revenues for 2022 will result from processing this order backlog", according to the init Managing Board.

For the 2022 financial year, the Managing Board is cautious in its planning strategy in light of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its consequences for the worldwide raw materials and energy supply. The target corridor for consolidated revenues 2022 is set between EUR 190m and EUR 200m. In light of further investments in new technologies, the target for EBIT is expected to be in the region of between EUR 15m to EUR 20m.

New business field, Ticketing as a Service (TaaS)

"Our research team is currently working with several partners to develop solutions for future challenges. With a wide range of new and enhanced solutions, we enable transport companies to digitalise their processes and tasks quickly and easily. This opens up additional growth potential in the short-term products business", stated the Managing Board in its outlook. The field of electromobility is becoming increasingly important for transport companies. Through its lighthouse projects in Europe, init is one step ahead of the competition in this future field. This should also have spillover effects for the international business.

The Managing Board sees long-term organic growth potential in the use of artificial intelligence to automate processes and in passenger information systems as well as cashless Open Payment Ticketing. init, with its innovative MOBILE-ITCS nextGen guidance system and other nextGen modules, has the capability to integrate all the new requirements of public transport companies. In order to allow them to introduce new ticketing management systems very rapidly and without the need for significant investment, init will also offer Ticketing as a Service (TaaS) in future. This is a promising new development, and not just for the German market.

The complete Annual Report 2021 and the presentation of today's press and analyst conference can be downloaded from the company's website.