Ekinops : 2022 Universal Registration Document

Universal Registration Document

2022

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the future

U n i ve r s a l R e g i s t r a t i o n D o c u m e n t

2022 REVENUE

€127.6m

REVENUE GENERATED BY

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

64%

EBITDA

€22.6m

2/3

Interview with

the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

4/5

Business

6/7

Markets/Innovation and R&D

8/9

International/Governance

10/11

Environmental, social and governance policy

12/13

Financial and stockmarket indicators

14

Fiscal year 2022

504 EMPLOYEES

> 50%

ENGINEERS IN R&D

23% OF REVENUE INVESTED IN R&D

01

Empowering next- generation networks

3

BUSINESSES

						SOFTWARE-DEFINED
			VOICE &	SOLUTIONS
OPTICAL
DATA ACCESS
TRANSPORT
SOLUTIONS
SOLUTIONS

Ekinops is a leading

provider of innovative open and

interoperable solutions

for telecommunications networks.

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U n i ve r s a l R e g i s t r a t i o n D o c u m e n t

Strategic areas to think Bigger

INTERVIEWWITH

DIDIER BRÉDY

Chairman and CEO

Against a disrupted economic back- drop, Ekinops managed to generate 23% growth in revenue in 2022, significantly outperforming the market. To what do you attribute this performance?

Indeed, after a record year in 2021 when we exceeded the €100m mark in terms of revenues(+12%),wemanagedtoaccelerate growth in 2022, - despite ongoing supply difficultiesforcertainelectroniccomponents.

All business lines reported strong growth: Access reported annual sales growth of 20%, a noteworthyperformanceinaglobal marketreportingsingle-digitgrowth.Optical transportwasup29%, with 200 Gb/s and 400 Gb/s products which perfectlymeet operator needs, particularly in North America.

In these business lines, the portion of revenue generated by Software and Services continued to increase to more than38%,drivenbysoftwaresaleswhich

facilitate the virtualization of network functions. These activities represented 15% of Group revenue in 2022.

Profitability was once again resilient, with a record EBITDA margin of 17.7%, and strong growth in net income in 2022.

Despite the global components crisis, our gross margin expanded 20% in 2022, reflecting not only our sound management of the supply chain, but also our ability to pass on some of the pricingpressureinourequipmentselling prices.

At the same time, sound control of our operating costs enabled us to once again report a record EBITDA margin: 17.7%, after 16.9% in 2021 and 15.9% in 2020. As a result, EBITDA in 2022 was up 29%, without holding back the investment in recruitment and R&D necessary for the Group'sdevelopmentandgrowth.

02

03

Current operating margin came out at 7.2%, versus 3.3% a year earlier. Adjusted for post-allocation intangible asset acquisition prices, the adjusted EBIT margin came to 12.2%.

All told, our net income rebounded 133% in2022,toreach€12.0m,i.e.anetmargin also at a new record of 9.4%.

Ekinops announced its "Bigger" strategic plan. What are its targets and its main strategic orientations?

We have set ourselves some ambitious development targets for the years to come,and,inaglobalmarketdominated by major multinational players, our aim is to get bigger and bigger as fast as possible. We have launched our Bigger strategicplan,builtonfourmainstrategic areas.

The first is external growth, with plans to carry out one or more acquisitions to strengthen our R&D clout and extend our customerbasetoaccelerategrowth.

From a commercial perspective, we have placed the accent in recent years on strengthening our positions with our customers.Thesecondstrategicambition oftheBiggerprogramistowinnewmajor customeraccounts.Intime,Ekinopsplans to become the benchmark player in the telecoms network universe, active with thebiggestglobaltelecomoperatorsand supporting the deployment of their most strategicnetworksandtechnologies.

The third strategic ambition covers technology: in a constantly changing telecommunications market, Ekinops planstobecomeamajorplayerinseveral business lines: Edge (processing network datafromtheperipheryofthenetworkto the heart of companies), Metro networks (OTN and WDM) and Cloud platforms to supervise networks and deliver new services in PaaS (Platform as a Service) mode, for example. In these three areas,

we aim to offers service providers both equipment and a greater range of software and services which generate regularandrecurringrevenuestreams.

Lastly, our final area of focus is ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance); to rise to the challenges of growth and creating sustainable value. Reducing the environmental impact is now a central subject for our customers and we will continue to develop to make our equipment and solutions less energy consuming. In this respect, we are extremelyproudtohavebeenrecognized by Orange Business Services as Best PartnerforSustainabilityin2022.

With "Bigger", we will also continue to reinforce our commitments to human resources, notably in terms of gender parity and societal responsibility. These commitmentsarereflectedinpreciseand concretetargetswhichwewillcontinueto applytotheglobalactivitiesoftheGroup.

What are your ambitions for 2023?

Buoyed by strong demand at the start of 2023, we have set ourselves the target of generating annual revenue growth of morethan12%andanEBITDAmarginof between 15% and 19%.

Our ambition is also to complete at least one external growth transaction during the year. We plan to favor non- dilutivefinancing,leveragingoursurplus cash position, with net cash of €20.5m, and our significant capacity to assume financial debt.

Beyond financial objectives, we will continue to pursue and reinforce our ESG actions. More than ever in 2023, Ekinops aimstoaffirmitspositionsasabenchmark employer and a committed and responsible corporate citizen vis-à-vis all of its stakeholders: customers, employees, partnersandshareholders!

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