EQS-News: CLIQ Digital announces to return capital to shareholders in 2024 by means of a share buyback programme of up to €13 million and not by distribution of dividends

CLIQ Digital announces to return capital to shareholders in 2024 by means of a share buyback programme of up to €13 million and not by distribution of dividends

• CLIQ Digital resolved to buy back shares beginning as soon as possible with a volume of up to €13 million
• Management and Supervisory Boards will propose to the Annual General Meeting not to distribute a dividend in 2024

DÜSSELDORF, 20 February 2024 – Today, CLIQ Digital AG’s Management Board and Supervisory Board resolved to initiate a share buyback programme and not to pay a dividend from the Company’s 2023 balance sheet profit.

The share buyback will return capital to CLIQ Digital’s shareholders of up to €13 million (excluding incidental acquisition costs) – this corresponds to 43% of the Group’s operating cash flow in 2023. The programme is scheduled to begin as soon as possible and be completed within twelve months. Up to 646,871 of the Company’s shares may be repurchased over the stock exchange in accordance with the authorisation granted by the general shareholders meeting on 14 April 2022.

The shares bought back shall be used to subsequently reduce CLIQ Digital’s capital through cancellation and/or to meet CLIQ Digital’s obligations arising from stock option plans.

Rationale

CLIQ Digital’s shares have been strongly affected by market volatility and are viewed by many financial experts as significantly undervalued. The objective of this new approach is to boost shareholder value and at the same time this form of capital return can be more tax-efficient than a dividend distribution for many shareholders. Therefore, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board will both propose to the Annual General Meeting scheduled for 4 April 2024 to not distribute a dividend from the Company's balance sheet profit for the financial year 2023 (2023: dividend amount of approx. €11.6 million or €1.79 per share). Going forward, the Company will decide an annual basis to which extent and in which form capital will be returned to shareholders in the following years.

Modus operandi

The share buyback will take place via the stock exchange in Xetra trading of Deutsche Börse AG and will be carried out in accordance with the safe harbour rules of Article 5 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014) in conjunction with the provisions of the Delegated Regulation of the EU Commission (Regulation (EU) 2016/1052).

The buyback will be exercised independently and without the influence of CLIQ Digital by an investment bank commissioned by CLIQ Digital, which shall make the decisions on the timing and amount of the individual order placements.

The share buyback programme can be terminated or suspended and resumed at any time within the acquisition period in compliance with legal provisions. CLIQ Digital will publish regular updates on the progress of the share buyback programme on its website https://cliqdigital.com/investors.

Management statement

“Consistently returning capital to shareholders is a priority at CLIQ Digital and reflects our financial discipline. The share buyback programme is testament to our conviction in CLIQ Digital’s operational strength and the objectives of our growth strategy,” said Ben Bos, member of the Management Board. “Thanks to our strong balance sheet, we are able to finance the share buyback programme through current liquidity as well as future operating cash flow.”

Contacts

Investor Relations:

Sebastian McCoskrie, s.mccoskrie@cliqdigital.com, +49 151 52043659

Media Relations:

Daniela Münster, daniela.muenster@h-advisors.global, +49 174 3358111

Financial calendar

About CLIQ Digital

The CLIQ Digital Group is a leading online performance marketing company selling subscription-based streaming services that bundle movies & series, music, audiobooks, sports and games to consumers globally. The Group licenses streaming content from partners, bundles it and sells the content through its numerous streaming services. Over the years, CLIQ Digital has become a specialist in online advertising and creating streaming services that are advertised towards specific consumer groups. CLIQ Digital operates in over 40 countries and employed 170 staff from 40 different nationalities as at 31 December 2023. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf and has offices in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Toronto. CLIQ Digital is listed in the Scale segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A35JS40, GSIN/WKN: A35JS4) and is a constituent of the MSCI World Micro Cap Index.

Visit our website at https://cliqdigital.com/investors, where you will find all publications as well as further information about CLIQ Digital and please follow us on LinkedIn.