3U HOLDING AG sells its stake in InnoHubs GmbH to co-partner

Right from the start of the building project InnoHubs in the immediate vicinity of the IT campus of the Julius-MaximiliansUniversity and the University of Applied Sciences in Wuerzburg, the objective of 3U HOLDING AG was to increase value in the interests of shareholders, employees, and all stakeholders. The building complex offers around 14,500 m² of large, modern office and innovation space for entrepreneurs and businesspeople and, with its immediate proximity to the universities, is intended to facilitate close interaction between science and business. It is particularly suitable for start-ups and science-related companies. Once again, 3U and its partners have identified and successfully exploited a trend. The high demand for the space on offer confirms the attractiveness of the location and the building. The construction project was only initiated in 2019, started in autumn 2021 after a short planning and approval phase, and successfully progressed in a short time. In recent months, a significant proportion of the available space has already been sold in advance. Rental agreements have also already been concluded with InnoHubs GmbH. The first owners and tenants are scheduled to move in at the end of this year.

3U HOLDING AG reports its shareholding in InnoHubs GmbH under the segment “Other Activities”. The income from the construction and sale of partial areas of the InnoHubs construction project is reported as other income.

In line with the progress of the construction project, the balance sheet total of the 3U Group has increased significantly in recent months. With the completion of the sale of the stake in InnoHubs, this development will reverse, and the balance sheet total will decrease again. Subsequent effects are in particular the derecognition of property, plant and equipment and a significant reduction in the short-term receivables from buyers of space associated with the construction project. At the same time, the inflow of the purchase price will improve the group’s available liquidity position.

The deconsolidation of the property developer loan significantly reduces liabilities to financial institutions at group level. The other income from the sale contributes to strengthening equity. At the same time, the minority interests in equity are reduced by the co-partner’s share in the sold InnoHubs GmbH. As a result, and due to the balance sheet contraction, the equity ratio will increase noticeably.

Uwe Knoke, member of the Management Board of 3U HOLDING AG, says: “By building InnoHubs as a center of exchange between business and science, we have met our own aspirations and contributed to the innovative further development of technologies. With weclapp SE as an owner of space, we will continue to benefit from the innovative concept of InnoHubs. But it also serves our corporate purpose of increasing value for our shareholders, employees, and stakeholders. With the sale of our stake in InnoHubs, we successfully complete this project. In total, income exceeds expenses considerably and, with the closing in the third quarter, we are also significantly strengthening our equity position and increasing our balance sheet quality.”

Against this backdrop, the Management Board confirms its forecast for fiscal 2022. For the financial year 2022, 3U HOLDING AG expects strong sales growth in the Group with a stable earnings situation. In 2022, according to the forecast, sales revenues are to be generated in the range between EUR 65 million and EUR 70 million. In addition, income in the single-digit million range from the sale of assets has been included in the planning. These include the expected income from the stake in InnoHubs. In terms of EBITDA, in view of the measures introduced to strengthen earnings on the one hand and the higher expenses for the expansion of Cloud Computing on the other, the Executive Board again expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be between EUR 10 million und EUR 12 million. This leads to an earnings expectation for the Group in a range of probably EUR 2 million to EUR 4 million.