DGAP-News: BIKE24 records strong international growth and has solidly navigated through the first six months of 2022

BIKE24 records strong international growth and has solidly navigated through the first six months of 2022

• Substantial revenue increases in localized markets Spain, France & Italy
• Full-bike sales up by above-average +12% for H1
• Number of active customers rose by +7% to 848 thousand
• Group revenues grew by +1% to EUR 128.8 million in H1 amid a challenging environment

Dresden, August 10, 2022. BIKE24's internationalization strategy is paying off: In the first half of the year, the leading e-commerce specialist for everything around cycling achieved an average growth rate of +102% in its localized markets Spain, France and Italy. France was the top contributor, with +165% sales growth. As a result, the total number of active customers also rose by +7% to 848 thousand. The high demand for full-bikes also proves the unbroken trend towards cycling. With its inventories well stocked again, BIKE24 recorded significant growth of +12% in this category (+20% for Q2). During the first half of the year, the Group thus generated sales of EUR 128.8 million in a continuously challenging environment and clouded consumer sentiment. This represents a moderate increase of +1% versus previous year's period.

"The long-term megatrends driving our business continue unabated, and sustainable mobility is becoming increasingly important in times of rising energy prices across Europe. Nevertheless, the effects of war, high Inflation and worried consumers have now also affected our business," says Founder & CEO Andrés Martin-Birner. "However, the considerable gains in full-bikes as well as in our localized markets clearly indicate that our expansion strategy is paying off. For us, this is an affirmation to consistently continue our path. We also bring experience and long-term vision to the table."

BIKE24 generated consolidated revenues of EUR 128.8 million in the first half of the year, an increase of +1.1% compared to EUR 127.4 million in the corresponding prior-year period (Q2: EUR 67.0 million after EUR 69.8 million in Q2 2021, or -4.0%). The Spanish, French and Italian markets with their localized online shops provided an above-average contribution to the Group's overall revenue growth, with an average increase in business volume of around +102% reaching EUR 10.3 million.

The gross margin was 29.1% in H1 2022 (H1 2021: 33.3%) and 29.8% in Q2, down from 35.4%. The decline reflects the anticipated normalization of the gross margin after the exceptionally high levels seen last year.

Significant investments in the second management level in the second half of 2021 as well as one-off expenses for additional temporary staff to compensate for Covid-related high level of sick leave in the first half of 2022 led to a +20% increase in personnel expenses to EUR 13.2 million (H1 2021: EUR 10.9 million). In Q2, personnel expenses amounted to EUR 6.6 million after EUR 5.9 million, which represents an increase of +11%.

Other operating expenses were down -10% to EUR 16.5 million in the first half of 2022, compared to EUR 18.3 million in previous year' s period (Q2: EUR 8.9 million, compared to EUR 11.2 million). Last year, other operating expenses had included consulting and transaction costs related to the IPO of Bike24 Holding AG.

Adjusted for extraordinary items, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) amounted to EUR 9.1 million in H1 2022 against EUR 19.0 million in H1 2021 (Q2: EUR 5.3 million after EUR 11.7 million). This translates into an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.1% versus last year's exceptionally high margin of 14.9% driven by the abnormal high gross margin (Q2: 7.9% versus 16.7%).

Timm Armbrust, CFO of BIKE24, summarizes: "We continue to see our development extremely positive over the longer term, even though we had to reduce our expectations for the current year because of the significantly tougher macroeconomic environment during Q2. However, benchmarked against the pre-Covid quarter Q2 2019, we have almost doubled consolidated revenues and even quadrupled them in our localized markets. And we have always been highly profitable, while our financial stability is providing us with the necessary resilience to continue to safely navigate the company through these challenging times and to successfully develop it further."

First deliveries from Southern European logistics center this year, localization strategy in France and Italy accelerates growth

The construction of the Southern European logistics center in the Barcelona area is progressing as planned. First customers in the south of Europe will be served from the new site as of this year. After BIKE24 launched two additional country-specific online shops in Italy and France earlier this year, website traffic as well as revenues in both countries have soared. In Italy, revenues in H1 2022 were +59% higher year over year at EUR 2.5 million, and in France they even climbed by +165% to EUR 4.2 million. In Spain, where the localized online shop had already been launched in 2020, BIKE24 also posted a +84% revenue increase to EUR 3.6 million for the first six months of 2022. The e-commerce specialist is currently preparing for the next localizations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, which are expected to be rolled out in the first half of 2023.

Forecast for 2022 adjusted

Operations in the first half of the year were impacted by the Ukraine war and its effects on the general economic situation. The geopolitical tensions and uncertainties are having a negative impact on the global economy. As a result, supply bottlenecks, inflation and fears of economic recession have increased. Due to the further worsening of the environment since the end of March 2022, management has revised the forecast for the ongoing fiscal year in July 2022. For the full year, it now expects sales to grow by between -5 and +5% with an adjusted EBITDA margin of between 3 and 6%.

The complete half-year report including the consolidated interim financial statements can be found here:

https://ir.bike24.com/websites/bike24/English/3000/publications.html

BIKE24's Q2 2022 earnings call for analysts and investors will take place today at 3pm CEST. The link below will take you to the live webcast of the conference:

https://www.c-meeting.com/web3/join/M83CVPWDCR7BJD

Telephone: +49 69 17415711 Passcode: 312 176 44

Press contact:
Bettina Fries
E-mail: presse@bike24.net
+49 172 297 6243

Investor contact:
Moritz Verleger
E-Mail: ir@bike24.net
+49 151 2414 0166

About BIKE24
BIKE24 is one of continental Europe's leading e-commerce bike platforms. The online retailer with a focus on the premium segment is the central contact point for the fast-growing community of cycling enthusiasts and thus promotes green mobility. Founded in Dresden in 2002 by CEO Andrés Martin-Birner, Falk Herrmann and Lars Witt, responsible for Legal & Own Brands, the company has quickly developed into one of continental Europe's leading cycling companies as well as a globally active online retailer in this fast-growing market. The web shop offers customers 77,000 products from more than 800 brands. This gives BIKE24 the widest range of branded products in the sector in continental Europe. The online bike platform is already present with five local web shops in Germany (bike24.de), Austria (bike24.at), Spain (bike24.es), France (bike24.fr) and Italy (bike24.it) in continental Europe. In addition, the international shop (bike24.com) serves customers all over the world.