• Net sales reduced by 14.0 Percent to EUR 5.8 million
• Export sales suffer from geopolitical development
• EBITDA with EUR -3.8 million clearly below previous year
• Extensive conversion of the company planned

 Kleinostheim, 13 May 2019 - curasan AG, Germany, a leading specialist for medical products in the field of orthobiologics, has closed the 2018 fiscal year with significantly lower sales and earnings. After important sales impulses in strategic growth markets failed to materialize, changes in geopolitical and economic conditions in particular led to the result that firmly planned sales, especially in established export countries, fell well short of expectations.

Thus, net sales decreased by 14.0 percent to 5.8 million Euros (2017: 6.8 Mio. Euro). Whereas in the domestic market Germany but also in Asia a slight growth could be experienced, the company had to cope with bitter losses in sales mainly in the second half of the year, especially in the foreign markets in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in the US, a market so important for economic success.

Accordingly, the extensive marketing and sales expenses had a negative impact on the company's earnings. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of EUR -3.8 million were 73.0 percent lower than in the previous year.

The key financial figures on the development in the financial year 2018 are as follows:

IFRS (in TEUR)	2018	2017	Deviation
Net Group Sales	5,842	6,795	-14.0%
EBITDA	-3,836	-2,217	-73.0%
EBIT	-4,784	-2,837	-68.6%
Net Los	-5,381	-3,998	-34.6%
Equity	7,521	9,941	-24.3%
Cash	464	2,286	-79.7%

 

"We did not succeed in reflecting the undisputed advantages of our products in an appropriate sales development. The deteriorating framework conditions then did the rest, especially in the second half of the year," explains Michael Schlenk, CEO of curasan AG. "When I took office as CEO almost five years ago, we had ambitious goals. And we have worked hard to realign the company, focus more strongly, reduce old liabilities and expand the sales base with new approvals and product developments. Therefore, it hurts me a lot personally that despite all our efforts we could not achieve economic success on our own.

Following the successful refinancing of the company in the second quarter of 2019, its continued existence is secured for the time being. The company will undertake extensive restructuring measures and communicate them to the market in a timely manner.

The development in the first 4 months of 2019 again shows a pleasing uptrend in many markets.

CEO Michael Schlenk will fulfil his contract defined for a period of 5 years, but is willing to cede his office to a successor still to be named before expiration of his management contract on October 1, 2019.

The company has positioned itself very well in marketing, regulatory affairs, medical affairs, production and research and development.

Discussions with potential internationally active strategic partners should still support to further expand the established sales structures and the grown customer base in order to also bring sales on the winning track. For the current financial year the company expects a stabilization of the net sales within a range of EUR 6.2 and 7.0 million. On EBITDA level a target value between EUR -3.2 and -2.8 million is expected.

The complete Annual Report 2018 is available for download on the company's website at the following link:

/investoren/publikationen/finanzberichte

Contact curasan AG:
Andrea Weidner
Investor Relations &
Corporate Communications
-51

About curasan AG:
curasan develops, manufactures and markets biomaterials and medical devices in the field of bone and tissue regeneration, wound healing and osteoarthritis therapy. As a pioneer and global technology leader in the growing field of regenerative medicine, curasan is specialized primarily on biomimetic bone grafting materials for dental, oral/maxillofacial, orthopedic and spinal applications, i.e. materials mimicking biological structures. Numerous patents and a broad record of scientific publications demonstrate the clinical success of the products and the highly innovative strength of curasan. Dental and orthopaedic clinicians worldwide benefit from the broad range of the premium quality and easy to use portfolio offered by the technology leader curasan. curasan maintains its own high-tech facilities for research, development and manufacturing of biomaterials in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. In addition to its headquarters, the company has a subsidiary, curasan, Inc., in Wake Forest, near Raleigh, N.C., USA. curasan's innovative products are cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and many other international authorities and available in almost 50 countries worldwide. curasan AG is a public company listed in the General Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.