EQS-Adhoc: SANDPIPER Digital Payments AG releases audited 2017 financial statement

SANDPIPER Digital Payments AG releases audited 2017 financial statement

- Total operating income at EUR 31.3m (previous year: EUR 29.2m)

- Concentration of investment activities, supporting the group strategy

- Operating result/EBIT (Swiss GAAP FER) at EUR +10.2m (previous year: EUR -6.4m)

- NAV per share according to Swiss Code of Obligation at EUR 0.06 (previous year: EUR 0.06)

St. Gallen, June 4, 2018 - SANDPIPER Digital Payments AG (BX Berne eXchange, ticker: SDP, www.sandpiper.ch, Open Market, Frankfurt, ISIN: CH0033050961), releases the audited financial statement according to Swiss GAAP FER for the year 2017.

After the growth in the last years, SANDPIPER entered into a concentration phase. Operational measures were taken to significantly improve the company's operating result and to build a basis for a continued positive development in 2018.

As a matter of fact, SANDPIPER will concentrate its activities exclusively on successful business models. Thus, SANDPIPER invested in the capital increase of InterCard AG Informationssysteme (issued 83'000 new shares and raised EUR 0.5 million of additional capital) and kept 50.4% of the voting rights. InterCard is the market leader for multifunctional card systems for universities, institutions of higher education and other educational institutions in Germany. Over 190 universities, institutions of higher education and student services in Germany alone have put their trust in the high security standard and the reliability of the InterCard systems.

Also, SANDPIPER participated with EUR 0.5 million in the convertible loan of Playpass NV to fund the growth. After the conversion in December, SANDPIPER was diluted from 36.0% to 34.6%. PlayPass NV (www.playpass.be) is the leading festival solution company providing contactless solutions for cashless payments, accreditation, access management and brand activation.

The disposal of the subsidiary Polyright AG led to its derecognition in August 2017. Since InterCard invested in Polyright AG, SANDPIPER again has an indirect minority investment of 29.3% and maintains therefor a leading market position in Switzerland for multifunctional card systems for universities.

In the prior year SANDPIPER had current financial debts of EUR 8.5 million. SANDPIPER could reach refinancing agreements resulting in a significant lower current financial debt level in the current periods.

The 2017 net profit attributable to SANDPIPER shareholders of EUR 6.3 million turned the shareholders equity attributable to SANDPIPER shareholders into the positive. Consequently, also the net asset value (NAV) per share is a positive amount. For the first time in SANDPIPER's history.

Operating income could be increased by EUR 2.1 million to EUR 31.3 million. The increase mainly results from InterCard (+EUR 7.0 million). In prior year InterCard was consolidated only starting from July, when control was obtained. Earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) increased to EUR 10.2 million. The improvement of EUR 16.6 million results from one-time effects like the derecognition of the net liabilities of payment solution whose operation was discontinued (+EUR 3.9 million) and a balance sheet restructuring of Multicard Nederland B.V. (+EUR 0.8 million).

Financial income profits mainly from the fluctuation of the share prices of SANDPIPER (+EUR 2.3 million). The disposal of Polyright AG led to a loss of EUR 5.3 million. Currency gains of EUR 0.3 million further improved the result. Net profit attributable to SANDPIPER shareholder reaches a record high of EUR 6.3 million.

In accordance with the Swiss Code of Obligations ("OR"), SANDPIPER generated positive net profit of EUR 0.5 million (previous year: EUR -23.5 million) in its 2017 statutory financial statements. Equity amounts to EUR 12.7 million (previous year: EUR 11.9 million). The NAV according to the Swiss Code of Obligations was EUR 0.06 per share (previous year: EUR 0.06) at 211.7 million shares on the reporting date.

Outlook

The operative concentration will continue in 2018. While the cost base at the holding level was reduced in 2017, a closer and more direct cooperation of the companies regarding sales initiatives and usage of shared services is promoted.

Multicard Nederland B.V. is focusing on its core business: mybility, cashless payment and smart city projects. This leads to a stronger collaboration with German SANDPIPER companies regarding smart city projects in Germany, as well as Benelux.

PAIR Solutions will increase its efforts to leverage the channel contacts of its sister companies. This includes contacts of IDpendant and InterCard, due to their complementary channels and solutions.

IDpendant, InterCard and Intrakey will more tightly coordinate their core competencies in logical and physical access solutions to offer converged and seamlessly interoperable systems. IDpendant and Ergonomics will cooperate increasingly on projects as well as on the technology side. Playpass is focusing on a steady internationalization strategy, forth running other Sandpiper companies.

In March 2018 InterCard AG Informationssysteme signed a convertible loan agreement with Polyright AG of EUR 0.4 million. With this investment InterCard has the right to increase its stake in Polyright AG to 50.2% until January 2021.

The annual report 2017 of Sandpiper Digital Payments AG can be downloaded on the website. The Annual General Meeting will be held on June 29^th, 2018 in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

About SANDPIPER Digital Payments AG

SANDPIPER Digital Payments AG, www.sandpiper.ch is a stock-listed holding company with a focus on innovative payment systems, solutions for marketing and customer retention as well as IT-services, access control and security. The company ranks amongst the leading and largest operators of closed- and open-loop proximity payment solutions in field of high schools, events and digital content networks.

SANDPIPER holds a majority stake in the companies Multicard Nederland B.V., InterCard AG Informationssysteme, Ergonomics AG, IDpendant GmbH as well as PAIR Solutions GmbH.

Contact: email: news@sandpiper.ch; Tel: +41-44-7838030; Fax: +41-44-7838040; Website: www.sandpiper.ch