On October 29, 2023, the new auditor Baker Tilly issued an unqualified audit opinion for the FY’22 accounts. The delay resulted from the late audit completion of the financial statements for the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 by the former auditor KPMG, due to going concern uncertainties.

The proof of sufficient financing for the forecast period was a prerequisite for the 2020 and 2021 audits. This turned out to be a major challenge for Singulus, which was overcome, however, with the help of CNBM. The customer / shareholder from China provided a € 20m line of financing effective February 2023 with an 18 months duration. Singulus fully tapped the line in March and April 2023. In return, Singulus granted options relating to rights in connection with know-how in the field of CdTe-technology.

FY’22 revenue increased by 28% yoy to 

€ 

88m, in-line with eNuW of 

€ 

87m and the preliminary range of € 86-91m provided in January 2023. The key growth driver was the Life Science segment (59% of sales), which increased sales by 91% yoy to 

€ 

52m, carried by medical applications.

Solar revenue (34% of sales) decreased by 16% yoy to 

€ 

30m. 

€ 

21m of segment revenues were realized with major customer CNBM. Because of Chinese COVID-19 restrictions, sales in the wet chemical area fell short as the start of a large project was delayed. The Semiconductor segment (7% of sales) contributed c.

€ 

6m to total revenues and was roughly flat yoy. Similar to Solar, Singulus faced challenges to working on planned customer projects.

FY’22 EBIT arrived at 

€ 

5.9m (eNuW: 

€ 

5.0m), up from the prior year’s 

€ -

12.4m. The operating result was impacted by a net positive 

€ 

9.4m one-off, containing a 

€ 

12.1m gain from the sale of the property at the Fürstenfeldbruck site as well as a 

€ 2

.7m restructuring expense in connection with the relocation of wet chemical production plants from Fürstenfeldbruck to the headquarters in Kahl. Adjusted by these one-off effects, EBIT would have come in at 

€ -

3.5m, reflecting a lack of scale and with it, fixed cost coverage. With the relocation, Singulus expects to attain annual cost savings of € 4.0m.

Singulus still operates sub-scale and has difficulties to cover its fixed costs. Due to the volatile nature of its project business, visibility as to when the company can sustainably surpass the necessary sales threshold to generate a positive net income (eNuW: around

€ 

120m) remains low. We hence reiterate HOLD with a reduced PT of

€ 

1.90 (old:

€ 

2.90) based on DCF.