init on course for growth with innovation campaign

• Revenues and earnings targets for 2022 confirmed
• Incoming orders in the first quarter of 2022 remain at a very high level
• Ticketing as a Service (TaaS) and electromobility as new growth areas

init innovation in traffic systems SE (ISIN DE 0005759807) with its innovation campaign, has already returned to growth in 2022 despite the Ukraine and Corona crises. This was confirmed by the Managing Board today at the virtual shareholders' meeting of the digitalisation specialist for buses and trains. An important growth area is the eMOBILE product suite to enable and support the expansion of electromobility at transport companies. At the same time however, new customers are to be won with cross-selling projects and solutions such as fleet management for railway systems (ITCS-Rail). In the current financial year, the Managing Board considers a turnover in the range of EUR 190 to 200m to be achievable (2021: EUR 176.7m).

The order intake achieved in the first quarter of 2022 also gives cause for optimism. The new order volume of EUR 62.9m acquired in this period is almost a quarter higher than the already very high figure for the previous year. The order backlog as at 31 March 2022 stood at around EUR 164m (Q1 2021: EUR 138m). "It has been confirmed that the topics which are creating the demand for init solutions, such as combating climate change, digitalisation and the conversion of public transport to emission-free vehicles and electromobility, are continuing to gain momentum," emphasises the Managing Board in its report.

Successful with ticketing app in the USA

Dr. Gottfried Greschner, Chairperson of the Managing Board, was also able to point to the funds made available worldwide for the construction and maintenance of an efficient transport infrastructure within the framework of government financing programmes. In the USA, billions of dollars are available for local public transport. North America continuous to be a focal point in init's growth strategy.

As the most recent example of this, Greschner cited the first US contract for the "MOBILE Ticketing App System" from its HanseCom subsidiary. It supplies an account-based and contactless ticketing solution for the seven-city region around Spokane in the US state of Washington, including a background system for revenue management, the supply of ticket terminals and an app for mobile ticketing.

These products are also part of the "nextGen" innovation campaign, as are the cloud- and browser-based planning and dispatching modules MOBILE-Perdis nextGen, MOBILEguide for recording and controlling occupancy levels and for passenger guidance, the database-independent control system MOBILE-ITCS nextGen and RESPONSEassist for automated incident management.

E-mobility: Success with licences for smart charging and software

A special growth area for init is the conversion of vehicle fleets to electric vehicles, which is now underway worldwide. Since mid-2021, public transport companies have had to meet a quota of at least 45 percent of low-emission or zero-emission vehicles when procuring new vehicles. From 2025 until the end of 2030, the quota is set to increase to 65 percent. This transformation places completely new demands on operational planning, scheduling and control and requires, above all, optimised charging management. For this purpose, init has developed the integrated software product suite eMOBILE, which optimises all processes from the simulation and planning of services and processes, depot and charging management and operational control, through to range forecasting and consumption analysis.

Two of the largest electric bus fleets in Europe and a first major customer in the USA rely on the the sector’s leading technology from init with its specialised subsidiaries CarMedialab (smart charging, licences for charging columns) and Mattersoft (clound based solution, real-time control system, fleet control, and live monitoring).

The growth strategy and the figures presented met with the overwhelming approval of the shareholders who took part in the virtual general meeting. The actions of the Managing Board were approved with 100 per cent. The management's proposal for the appointment of the auditor (PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart) was also accepted with 99.97 percent.

The resolution on the appropriation of the retained earnings was adopted with 99.98 per cent. The init innovation in traffic systems SE shareholders will receive a dividend of 0.55 Euro per no-par value share entitled to dividend. In total, around EUR 5.5m will be distributed.

New Supervisory Board: Andreas Thun replaces Hans Rat

There has been a change in the regular election of the Supervisory Board. Hans Rat, the former Secretary General and Honorary Secretary General of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), did not stand for re-election to the supervisory body, of which he had been a member since 2012. Thanks to his international contacts, he was often able to help shape cross-market approaches to solutions, and helped to shape the company's growth course. The Supervisory Board and Managing Board of init innovation in traffic systems SE therefore thanked Hans Rat for his work and were pleased that he will continue to support the company with his expertise, in an advisory capacity.

The shareholders' meeting appointed Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Thun, an experienced entrepreneur, as his successor on the Supervisory Board. The former managing director and founding shareholder of iris-GmbH infrared & intelligent sensors GmbH, has worked with init for decades as a business partner and together with the company, realised a large number of successful international projects for automatic passenger counting. He also has an extensive network in the market for infrared sensors and, since leaving iris in September 2020, has been involved in longer-term research projects in the field of public transport automation.