DGAP-News: 2G Energy AG grows total operating revenue by 26.4% to EUR 60.2 million in Q1 (previous year: EUR 47.6 million)

Corporate News Heek, May 19, 2022

2G Energy AG grows total operating revenue by 26.4% to EUR 60.2 million in Q1 (previous year: EUR 47.6 million)

- Net sales of EUR 48.7 million up 12.7% year-on-year (EUR 43.2 million)

- EBIT of EUR -0.8 at seasonally budgeted level (previous year: EUR +0.3 million)

- New order intake in April remains very buoyant at EUR 23.1 million (previous year: EUR 16.3 million; +42%)

- 2G expected to gain access to piped hydrogen as early as 2024

Heek, May 19, 2022 2G Energy AG (ISIN DE000A0HL8N9), one of the internationally leading producers of gas driven combined heat and power (CHP) systems, grew its first quarter net sales by 12.7% year-on-year to EUR 48.7 million (previous year: EUR 43.2 million). Despite this increase in net sales, 2G noted noticeably longer lead times in the necessary regulatory approval process and customer preparations in individual markets, particularly in the UK.

The disruptions on the procurement side, as reported by many industries, are not currently having a lasting effect on 2Gs production and delivery capabilities. We grew our total operating revenue by 26% year-on-year to EUR 60.2 million (previous year: EUR 47.6 million), notes COO Ludger Holtkamp. Here we were helped by a careful increase in personnel in almost all Group units in order to process the order book position which at over EUR 180 million is the highest in the companys history and to keep delivery times for customers as short as possible in the process. Together with the personnel expenses of those subsidiaries that were not yet fully consolidated in the first quarter of the previous year (HJS Motoren GmbH and SenerTec GmbH), personnel expenses consequently rose by EUR 2.1 million (+19%) in the past quarter.

As a large proportion of factory output (EUR 11.5 million) went into adding to inventories of finished goods and work in progress, higher prices for materials and the companys own price increases have not yet had a substantial impact. However, production-related overhead costs rise even before the corresponding final invoice. Other operating expenses, for example, were up by EUR 1.1 million (+19%), with a higher level of transport costs and sales commissions alone accounting for approximately EUR 0.5 million. Subsidiaries consolidated for the first time also contributed EUR 0.3 million to the increase in other operating expenses.

The first quarter EBIT result of EUR -0.8 million should not be misinterpreted, notes CFO Friedrich Pehle. "What is really pleasing and not self-evident these days is the increased total output, which will also be invoiced in the coming weeks and will then have a positive impact on sales and directly on earnings." Traditionally, the first quarter contributes very little to the annual result of 2G Energy AG (previous year: 2% of full-year EBIT).

New order intake up 42% in April

The temporary reticence to invest that was feared at the start of the Ukraine war, particularly in relation to Natural Gas CHP systems, failed to materialize, as new order intake in April of EUR 23.1 million (previous year: EUR 16.3 million) was once again well above the already high average for the first quarter of 2022 (EUR 17.9 million).

German industrial customers are beginning to realize that natural gas will continue to be available in sufficient quantities in the future, comments Pehle. While natural gas will remain expensive in the long term, our CHP systems should prove all the more helpful in effectively saving primary energy thanks to their very high efficiencies, and this with a higher security of supply for electrical energy.

2G expected to gain access to piped hydrogen already in 2024

2G is in advanced discussions to become one of the first industrial companies in Germany to gain access to piped hydrogen produced not only on site. The negotiating partner is Wasserstoff Entwicklungs GmbH & Co. KG, based in Ahaus, which plans to build a regional H2 transport network that will be connected to the Lingen-Gelsenkirchen hydrogen pipeline currently under construction. Network access for 2G is scheduled for 2024.

The connection to the gas pipeline for green hydrogen transmission marks a further milestone in the companys history. Firstly, it enables us to supply our site and demonstrate how the energy transition can be successfully implemented with the aid of H2 in on-site supply. Secondly, we are also using this grid-based green energy source for our development work, to further optimize our 2G hydrogen power systems, comments CEO Christian Grotholt. For the first time, the prerequisite is now being established within the structurally strong Westmünsterland region to operate H2 applications on a commercial basis, and consequently also H2 CHP systems, and to convert already installed 2G natural gas CHP systems to hydrogen operation. We believe that natural gas applications will be replaced by hydrogen utilization options within the next few decades. We will soon be demonstrating the feasibility of such an approach at our site in Heek.

2G company portrait
The 2G Energy AG Group is an internationally leading manufacturer of decentralized energy supply systems. With the development, production and technical installation as well as digital grid integration of combined heat and power systems (CHPs), the company offers comprehensive solutions in the growth market for highly efficient CHPs. Aftersales and maintenance services comprise an important additional performance criterion. The product range especially includes CHP modules in the 20 kW and 4,500 kW range for operation utilizing hydrogen, natural gas, biogas, as well as other lean gases. Worldwide, more than 7,000 installed 2G systems in various applications supply electrical and thermal energy to a broad spectrum of customers including companies in the housing industry, agriculture, commercial and industrial companies, public energy utilities, and municipal and local government authorities.

2G benefits from global long-term trends that make efficient and decentralized energy solutions ever more important. These trends include not only rising energy demand but also the need to conserve natural resources. The parallel generation of electrical and thermal energy makes CHP technology more efficient and climate-compatible than conventional energy coversion methods, especially when, for example, hydrogen of regenerative origin is harnessed as fuel. 2G power plants can offset wind and solar power plant production fluctuations as required, thereby forming a backbone technology for future supply concepts, especially in the deployment of hydrogen engines. 2Gs customers thereby derive consistent benefits from economically and ecologically highly beneficial innovations that rapidly pay for themselves and create extensive added values.

2G is consistently expanding its technological leadership through continuous research and development work, both in gas engine technology for hydrogen, natural gas and biogas applications, as well as in specific software development. Moreover, in the energy revolutions future electricity market design, the digitalization that 2G consistently implements forms an indispensable system-relevant element in combination with solar, wind, biogas and natural gas producers, and establishes a high barrier to market entry for competitors.

2G employs around 750 staff at its headquarters in Heek, Germany, in North America, as well as at five other European locations. The company is active in more than 50 countries and generated net sales of EUR 266 million in the 2021 financial year. 2G was founded in 1995 and has been listed on the stock market since 2007. The shares of 2G Energy (ISIN DE000A0HL8N9) are listed in the "Scale" segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

2022 calendar dates
May 23-24 Spring Conference, Frankfurt
June 3 Ordinary AGM, Ahaus
September 5 Consolidated financial statements for H1 2022
September 5-6 Autumn Conference, Frankfurt
November 21 Q3 key figures and business trends
November 28-30 German Equity Conference, Frankfurt

IR contact
2G Energy AG
Benzstrasse 3, 48619 Heek
Phone: +49 (0) 2568 93 47-2795
Fax: +49 (0) 2568 93 47-15
Email: ir@2-g.de
Internet: www.2-g.de