Disclaimer

1. General information/liability

This financial analysis has been produced for the information purposes of institutional investors only, and is not in any way to be construed as a recommendation, offer, or solicitation to buy or sell the financial instruments mentioned herein. It is not permitted to disclose the financial analysis to persons other than the intended recipient without the consent of NuWays AG. Reproduction of this document, in whole or in part, is not permitted without the prior consent of NuWays AG. All rights reserved.

Under no circumstances shall NuWays AG or any of its employees involved in the production of this document bear any liability for possible errors or incompleteness of the information included in this financial analysis – neither in relation to indirect or direct damage nor consequential losses. Liability for damages arising either directly or as a consequence of the use of information, opinions, and estimates is also excluded.

Past performance of a financial instrument is not necessarily indicative of future performance.

 

2. Responsibilities

This financial analysis was prepared by the analyst named on the front page (the “Author”). The Author is solely responsible for the opinions and estimates expressed therein. The analysis was produced independently.

The content of the financial analysis was not influenced at any time by the issuer of the analyzed financial instrument. It may be possible that parts of the financial analysis were handed out to the issuer for information purposes prior to the publication without any major amendments being made thereafter.

 

3. Organizational requirements

NuWays AG has made internal organizational arrangements and put rules in place to prevent or accordingly disclose possible conflicts of interest in connection with the production and dissemination of the financial analysis. All employees of NuWays AG involved in the production of the financial analysis are subject to internal compliance regulations.

There is no direct or indirect link between the Author’s remuneration and the production of this financial analysis. In the event that an analyst or a person close to the analyst is faced with a conflict of interest, the analyst is no longer permitted to be involved in the preparation of financial analyses relating to the company.

 

4. Information relating to valuation methods/update

The fair value per share, i.e. the price target and the resultant recommendation, is based on generally accepted and widely used methods of fundamental analysis, such as e.g. DCF Model, adjusted Free Cash Flow (adj. FCF) method, Peer Group Comparison or Sum of the Parts Model. The result of this fundamental valuation is modified to take into consideration the analyst's assessment as regards the expected development of investor sentiment and its impact on the share price.

The adj. FCF method is based on the assumption that investors purchase assets at a price (enterprise value) at which the operating cash flow return after taxes on this investment exceeds their opportunity costs in the form of a hurdle rate of 7.5%. The operating cash flow is calculated as EBITDA less maintenance capex and taxes.

The DCF approach involves calculating the future free cash flows initially on the basis of a fictitious capital structure of 100% equity, i.e., interest and repayments on debt capital are initially not factored in. The adjustment toward the actual capital structure is conducted by discounting the calculated free cash flows with the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), which takes into account both the cost of equity capital and the cost of debt capital. After discounting, the calculated total enterprise value is reduced by the interest-bearing debt capital in order to arrive at the equity value.

Peer Group: The peer group comparison is a relative valuation approach and may be used to derive a company’s value. The peer group usually consists of other sufficiently comparable listed companies, transaction values of unlisted companies might also play a role. A peer group comparison might be based on sales, earnings (e.g. EBITDA, EBIT, EPS) or other (e.g. free cash flow, book-value, customers) measures.

Sum-of-the-parts: A sum-of-the-parts valuation yields the company’s enterprise value by summing of the value of individual assets. Here different valuation models are being used, where appropriate. The equity value is derived by subtraction of the net debt position.

NuWays AG uses the following three-step rating system for the analyzed companies:

Buy: Sustainable upside potential of more than 20% within 12 months.

Sell: Sustainable downside potential of more than 20% within 12 months.

Hold: Limited upside/downside potential. No immediate catalyst visible.

NB: The ratings of NuWays AG are not based on a performance that is expected to be “relative” to the market.

The decision on the choice of the financial instruments analyzed in this document was made solely by NuWays AG. The opinions and estimates in this financial analysis are subject to change without notice. It is within the discretion of NuWays AG whether and when it publishes an update to this financial analysis.

 

5. Key sources of information

The information required for this financial analysis was in part made available by the issuer of the financial instrument. Furthermore, it is based on publicly available sources (such as, for example, Bloomberg, Reuters, VWD-Trader, and daily press) that are considered to be reliable. NuWays AG has checked the information for plausibility, but not for accuracy or completeness.

 

6. Competent supervisory authority

NuWays AG is supervised by BaFin - the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Graurheindorfer Straße 108, 53117 Bonn and Marie-Curie-Straße 24 - 28, 60439 Frankfurt a.M.

 

7. Special information for recipients outside Germany

This investment research is subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. The dissemination of this information to other countries, in particular to the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Japan, may be restricted or prohibited by the laws in force in such countries.

 

Compliance

The documents prepared by NuWays’s analysts are financial analyses as defined in the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG). The analysts of the Institutional Research unit prepare these analyses independently and objectively and in compliance with statutory requirements (WpHG). Special organizational measures ensure that the analysts comply at all times with statutory requirements. This includes, in particular:

  • Organizational measures ensure the independence of the analysts
  • The remuneration of the analysts and those employees involved in the production of the analysis is not linked to commission and income
  • Monitoring mechanisms prevent influencing of analysts
  • Analysts do not perform any advisory roles that could bring influence to bear on the production of the analyses
  • The independence and impartiality of our analysts is subject to separate monitoring
  • Analysts are prohibited from accepting any gratuities from third parties
  • Analysts are prohibited from providing commitments to make favorable recommendations
  • Analysts and employees involved are prohibited from trading in the analyzed data

 

Conflicts of Interest

Pursuant to section 85 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), any financial analysis undertaken must indicate any potential conflicts of interest with regard to the analyzed company. A conflict of interest is presumed to exist in particular if NuWays AG ...

  • or any other person belonging to the same group with it was part of a consortium within the past twelve months that issued the financial instruments of the analysed company by way of a public offer.
  • or any other person belonging to the same group with it has entered into an agreement on the production of the research report with the analysed company.
  • or any other person belonging to the same group with it has been party to an agreement on the provision of investment banking services with the analysed company or have received services or a promise of services under the term of such an agreement within the past twelve month.
  • The analysed company holds 5% or more of the share capital of NuWays AG.
  • holds (a) a net short position or (b) a net long position of 0.5% of the outstanding share capital of the analysed company.
  • or any other person belonging to the same group with it is a market maker or liquidity provider in the financial instruments of the issuer.
  • or the analyst has any other significant financial interests relating to the analysed company such as, for example, exercising mandates in the interest of the analysed company.
  • The research report has been made available to the analysed company prior to its publication. Thereafter, only factual changes have been made to the report.