REGULATED INFORMATION AND PRICE SENSITIVE FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Trading update and organizational announcement
Leuven, Belgium – July 31, 2018 – 7h00 – Crescent (EURONEXT: OPTI; OTC: OPNVY)
Consolidated results for the first half of 2018 of former Option NV – recently renamed Crescent NV post its acquisition of the latter – have pushed through the ten million mark (10m€) with slightly positive recurring operating results (rebitda) as fueled by good results booked in the services and lighting divisions of the Crescent Group. Former Option NV shipped a little over 2 million Euros which is somewhat below forecast and below last year in part since new product platforms (Cloudgate LTE cost down and Cloudgate micro) have yet to hit the market. This will happen during second half of 2018.
Given these encouraging group results, we remain cautiously optimistic about initial guidance given for the full year of realizing more than 20mio in revenues with positive rebitda contributions.
For the remainder of 2018, Crescent will increase focus on generating positive operating cash flows, notwithstanding the completion of all rightsizing plans for Option NV and for Sait NL. Furthermore through the merger of Crescent NV with Option NV and the further and full conversion of all historic financial debt obligations into capital, the group’s equity position will turn positive.
We are pleased to disclose that Belfius bank is supporting the company’s request for the refinancing and restructuring of its remaining non-financial historic debt obligations (1.5mio€) and for a working capital credit line of 1.5mio€; a final agreement is expected to be signed before end of August subject to Gigarant approval.
Hence Crescent NV will have implemented all currently planned rightsizing and refinancing measures by this fall thereby completing a difficult rescue operation. Going forward its management focus will shift towards deployment of profitable growth initiatives.
Organization and leadership
Mr. Guy Coen – currently serving as CEO of Option NV – has indicated that he wants to pursue other career opportunities for personal reasons. He will leave Crescent NV end of July in good standing and in full consensus. Guy has agreed to continue to serve as consultant on the company’s advisory board for technology and strategy and will act as a liaison consultant for Asia.
He will be succeeded by Mr. Alain Van den Broeck, a senior and seasoned technologist and veteran CEO of the former Crescent Group. Alain will join Crescent in the fall as CEO of the Crescent Solutions division (former Option NV and Sait NL and Maro BVBA combined ) and brings a wealth of experience and competence to the group in terms of transitioning from a product and hardware centric OEM organization towards an end-to-end software enabled IOT -solutions provider.
The board wishes both Guy Coen and Alain Van den Broeck the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Crescent NV will be organized along three operating divisions: Crescent Solutions with Alain Van den Broeck as CEO, Crescent Services headed by Mr. Ron Bours (CEO of 2invision) and Crescent Lighting headed by Mr. Gert Grolleman (CEO of Innolumis BV). Together with Edwin Bex as Crescent Group CFO and Eric Van Zele as group chairman they will constitute the Crescent executive team.
Acquisitions
The Crescent Group also discloses that its 2invision IT services daughter company operating out of Maastricht (NL) has acquired 100% of the share capital of Eindhoven based managed services company ‘ANY-IT’ (NE-iT Automatisering BV & NE-iT Holding BV) a company similar in scope and in size to itself, with reported sales of 2.7mio € in 2017 and 257 k€ ebitda .
The group further discloses that Crescent NV is in final stages of negotiation with the current management of 2invision to acquire their 40% of the share capital of the latter. Hence also the services division will soon be 100% owned by Crescent NV.
More detailed financial data and general information about first half results will be published towards the end of September; the company publishes semester results on September 28 and is diligently preparing a detailed prospectus (equivalent information document) about the merger between Option NV and Crescent NV in accordance with article 18 para 2d of the law of June 16, 2006 regarding the public offering of investment instruments and the admission for trading thereof on a regulated market.
CONTACT
Edwin Bex
Gaston Geenslaan 14
B-3001 Leuven, België
TEL: +32 (0) 16 31 74 11
FAX: +32 (0) 16 31 74 90
E-mail: investor@option.com