EQS-News: Vita 34 continues to show increasing revenue, improved profitability and stronger cash generation in the third quarter of 2024

Vita 34 continues to show increasing revenue, improved profitability and stronger cash generation in the third quarter of 2024

• Revenue up 6.3 percent to EUR 60.3 million for the first nine months of 2024
• EBITDA grows by 77.5 percent to EUR 6.4 million, also driven by positive one-time effects
• EBITDA margin returns to double-digit level at 10.6 percent
• Strong operating cash flow of EUR 7.8 million, up 61.1 percent

Leipzig, 22 November 2024 – Vita 34 AG, the leading cell bank in Europe and the third largest worldwide, accelerated its revenue growth rate and earnings in the third quarter of 2024 despite the prolonged challenging macroeconomic environment.

Revenues for the first nine months of 2024 increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 60.3 million (9M 2023: EUR 56.7 million). The net amount of invoiced services in the end customer business (B2C) rose by an even higher 12.4 percent to EUR 55.3 million (9M 2023: EUR 49.2 million), with the share of this attributable to annual recurring payments increasing by 6.5 percent to EUR 16.6 million (9M 2023: EUR 15.6 million). “Our churn rate remains well below 1 percent,” Thomas Pfaadt, CFO of Vita 34 AG adds. “This pays in on our solid multi-year contract base, which keeps generating high levels of cash flows for the years to come.”

With an overall positive business performance, the situation on the individual European markets in the new customer business remains mixed. Important markets such as Germany and Portugal continued to show weakness in the third quarter whilst Switzerland, Spain, Romania and – once again – the GCC region developed positively. “In general, the overall low market penetration of cell banking in the markets we operate in offers a huge opportunity for us. Germany, the UK and Turkey are still showing penetration rates far below 1 percent compared to Romania, Portugal and Hungary with more than 5 percent.” explains Jakub Baran, CEO of Vita 34 AG. “Overall, we are optimistic about the fourth quarter and beyond and hope to return to past performance in the near future.”

EBITDA increased significantly by 77.5 percent year-on-year to EUR 6.4 million (9M 2023: EUR 3.6 million). The EBITDA was positively impacted by a special effect of EUR 1.4 million from new agreements with the US licensor of the CAR-T technology. Despite growing investments in marketing and sales in the third quarter as a result of the marketing offensive launched, the Company was able to keep a firm grip on costs and realize potential savings. Important steps were also taken in the third quarter as part of the Group-wide integration efforts. Further core processes in the Company were digitalized.

The key figures for business development are as follows:

Cash flow from operating activities continued to increase, and rose by 61.1 percent to EUR 7.8 million (9M 2023: EUR 4.8 million). As in the previous quarters, high demand for prolongations of expiring contracts contributed to this. Cash and cash equivalents also continued to develop positively at EUR 17.6 million, underpin the Group's sustained solid financial position.

Furthermore the Company continues to see a growing demand on the customer side for higher-value product bundles. Based on the positive experience from the Swiss and GCC markets, the Company decided to roll-out placenta tissue banking in Poland and Romania. Given the high demand currently seen at market launch, it is planned to roll out placenta banking across all of Europe. In parallel, several initiatives regarding partnerships in cell therapies with clinical centers and hospitals have been started. Vita 34 is recognized as a reliable partner in the industry providing services of collection, testing, processing and storage of perinatal tissue.

The Management Board maintains its full year guidance of revenues between EUR 81 million and EUR 88 million and EBITDA of EUR 6.5 million to EUR 8.0 million. The guidance is based on a constant exchange rate of the euro against the Polish zloty and other currencies (HUF, RON, TRY, GBP) compared to 29 April 2024.

The Management Board of Vita 34 AG will be available to institutional investors, analysts and representatives of the press today at 11:00 a.m. in a video conference to provide additional information on business development. Registration for this is by e-mail via the Investor Relations department (ir@vita34.de).

Contact:
Vita 34 AG
Investor Relations
Phone: +49 (0341) 48792 – 40
Email: ir@vita34.de

Company Profile

Vita 34 was founded in Leipzig in 1997 and today is by far the leading cell bank in Europe and the third largest worldwide. As the first private umbilical cord blood bank in Europe and a pioneer in cell banking, the company has since offered the collection logistics, processing and storage of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord tissue and other postnatal tissues as a full-service provider for cryopreservation. The donor's own cells are a valuable starting material for medical cell therapy and are kept alive in the vapor of liquid nitrogen. Customers from about 50 countries have already provided for the health of their families with about one million units of stored biological material at Vita 34. Furthermore, the Company is active in the areas of Cell & Gene therapies and CDMO.