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Klöckner & Co SE delivers best operating income in fiscal year 2021 since IPO

Klöckner & Co SE delivers best operating income in fiscal year 2021 since IPO

Duisburg, Germany, March 9, 2022 – Klöckner & Co generated its best operating income in fiscal year 2021 since the Company’s IPO in 2006. Full-year sales in 2021 rose very substantially by 45% to €7.4 billion (2020: €5.1 billion). Assisted by the positive market environment, operating income (EBITDA) before material special effects increased from €111 million in the prior year to €848 million. Net income was likewise extremely strong at €629 million, compared with a €114 million net loss in the prior year. Earnings per share amounted as a result to €6.21 (2020: loss per share of €1.16). In light of the record earnings for fiscal year 2021, Klöckner & Co will propose an unusually high dividend of €1.00 per share to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting.

Due to the price-driven increase in net working capital throughout the fiscal year and the funding of pension obligations in the amount of €243 million in the fourth quarter, cash flow from operating activities was negative with a cash outflow of €306 million (2020: cash inflow of €161 million). Conversely, the equity ratio improved due to the exceptionally high net income to a very solid 47% (December 31, 2020: 40%).

Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: “2021 was an extremely successful year in our corporate history. With our new strategy, “Klöckner & Co 2025: Leveraging Strengths”, we have begun returning our Company to a course of sustainable growth. We have built up distinct strengths and capabilities in recent years that we are now systematically leveraging to become the leading digital one-stop-shop platform for steel, other materials, equipment and processing services in Europe and the Americas as well as a pioneer for sustainability.”

Progress in digital transformation

Implementation of the Group strategy further accelerated digitalization and automation at Klöckner & Co in the past year. Digital unit kloeckner.i was repositioned, a hub was established in the USA and the share of sales generated via digital channels increased to 46% in fourth quarter. The AI-driven Kloeckner Assistant application has been expanded and is now a key tool in the increasingly automated processing of quotes and orders. Klöckner & Co consequently generated digital sales of over €1 billion via the solution in 2021. In the tool’s next development stage, it should digitalize and automate a full 80% of sales processes and soon be deployed in other parts of Klöckner & Co’s value chain.

Klöckner & Co as pioneer of a sustainable steel industry: targets, partnerships and categorization metric

Klöckner & Co attained key milestones last year in establishing itself as a pioneer of a sustainable steel industry. The Company embraces its environmental responsibility under the slogan “kloeckner takes action 2040” and already signed up in 2020 – as one of only a select few players in the steel sector – to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) “Business Ambition for 1.5°C” campaign, the world’s most ambitious and high-profile framework for emission reduction. In a first step, Klöckner & Co aims to significantly reduce its directly controllable greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The adopted medium-term carbon reduction targets were recognized by the SBTi in January 2022 as science-based targets. For the long term, the Company also plans to reduce directly controllable carbon emissions to net zero by 2040. In addition to the extensive reduction measures across all scopes, the Company already offsets the currently unavoidable Scope 1 and 2 emissions by investing in high-quality, certified offsetting projects. In consequence, Klöckner & Co is already carbon-neutral today.

As a pioneer on the way to a sustainable steel industry, Klöckner & Co is exploiting the strategic opportunities presented by decarbonization. In its strategy, the Company has made green solutions an integral part of its business model and is building a sustainable range of products and services. In this connection, by partnering with the Swedish company H2 Green Steel, it has secured access to substantial quantities of virtually carbon-emission-free steel. So that customers in future can reliably, transparently and easily see the carbon footprint of a product purchased from Klöckner & Co, the Company has developed a categorization metric for green and low-carbon steel in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group. The categorization metric is rooted in international, science-based standards and categorizes low-carbon steel according to the certified emissions generated along the entire value chain from resource extraction to production. By classifying products into six categories, the Company has created an easy way to reliably assess and compare the carbon footprint of green steel. Klöckner & Co will be able to provide low-carbon steel in various categories of the scale by the end of 2022. This will enable Klöckner & Co to support customers in building sustainable value chains commencing this year. Klöckner & Co aims for the two lowest-carbon-footprint categories to account for over 30% of its entire range by 2025 and 50% by 2030. This equates to an annual reduction in carbon emissions by some four million tons.

Purpose statement, claim and logo underscore sustainability ambitions

To provide orientation in a rapidly changing environment, Klöckner & Co carried out an intensive corporate identity process in recent months, developing a purpose statement and a claim and adapting the Group’s logo. The purpose statement was defined in a 360-degree process incorporating input from employees: “We partner with customers and suppliers to deliver innovative metal solutions for a sustainable tomorrow.” This underscores Klöckner & Co’s self-perception as a reliable partner to customers and suppliers, with innovative solutions that go beyond the supply of steel alone. At the same time, Klöckner & Co works for a sustainable future and aims to evolve from a digital pioneer in the steel industry to a pioneer of sustainability. The corporate claim formulated in this context reflects the purpose statement and encapsulates the core brand promise: “Your partner for a sustainable tomorrow.” Klöckner & Co will also appear under an adapted logo in order to strengthen its brand positioning.

Outlook

Klöckner & Co expects a further increase in steel demand this year in its core markets of Europe and North America. The Company already expects to see considerable sales growth in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the prior-year quarter. The guidance for operating income (EBITDA) of €130–180 million before material special effects is confirmed (Q1 2021: €130 million). Additionally, Klöckner & Co anticipates positive material special effects in the amount of €54 million in the initial quarter of 2022 from sales of properties in Switzerland and France.

About Klöckner & Co:
Klöckner & Co is one of the largest producer-independent distributors of steel and metal products and one of the leading steel service companies worldwide. Based on its distribution and service network of around 140 locations in 13 countries, Klöckner & Co supplies more than 100,000 customers. Currently, the Group has around 7,200 employees. Klöckner & Co had sales of some €7.4 billion in fiscal year 2021. As a pioneer of the digital transformation in the steel industry, Klöckner & Co’s target is to digitalize and largely automate its supply and service chain and to become the leading digital one-stop-shop platform for steel, other materials, equipment and processing services in Europe and the Americas as well as a pioneer of sustainability – for the benefit of customers, the steel industry and society.

The shares of Klöckner & Co SE are admitted to trading on the regulated market segment (Regulierter Markt) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) with further post-admission obligations (Prime Standard). Klöckner & Co shares are listed in the SDAX® index of Deutsche Börse.
ISIN: DE000KC01000; WKN: KC0100; Common Code: 025808576.

Klöckner & Co SE contact:

Press
Christian Pokropp – Press Spokesperson
Head of Corporate Communications |
Head of Group HR
Phone: +49 203 307-2050
Email:

Investors
Felix Schmitz
Head of Investor Relations |
Head of Strategic Sustainability
Phone: +49 203 307-2295
Email:

Source: https://www.kloeckner.com/en/media/press-releases/Kloeckner_Co_SE_delivers_best_operating_income_in_fiscal_year_2021_since_IPO.html

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Disclaimer
All transaction are carrying out by SiLLC, a private portfolio management assembly. This document is not an offer of securities for sale or investment advisory services. This document contains general information only and is not intended to represent general or specific investment advice. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and targets are not guaranteed. Certain statements and forecasted data are based on current expectations, current market and economic conditions, estimates, projections, opinions and beliefs of SiLLC and/or its members. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements or in any of the case studies or forecasts. All references to SiLLC’s advisory activities relates to SiLLC Assembly International.

Arcane Crypto’s associated company LN Markets announces launch of Bitcoin options trading

Arcane Crypto’s associated company LN Markets announces launch of Bitcoin options trading

April 22, 2022 Arcane’s associates company ITOAM Sarl, the company behind LN Markets today announced the launch of Bitcoin options trading built on top of the Lightning Network.

LN Markets now offers BTCUSD calls and puts with

24-hour expiry
2 strikes for calls and puts each
Choice of cash or physical delivery

Torbjørn Bull Jenssen, CEO of Arcane says, “With the addition of options trading, LN Markets shows that they continue to be on the forefront of lightning-enabled bitcoin trading. As outlined by our research team in a recent report, adoption of lightning is growing fast, which together with a strengthened product offering puts LN Markets in a great position for future growth.”

LN Markets launched in March 2020 and achieved USD 329M of trading volume in 2021. Arcane has a 16% stake in LN Markets.

About LN Markets

LN Markets is a trading platform built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network using Bitcoin settled over the Network as collateral for derivatives trading. The use of instant and almost costless transactions and Bitcoin Lightning Network technology enables LN Markets to provide highly leveraged derivatives with minimal counterparty risk for traders.

For more information about LN Markets see https://lnmarkets.com/

About Arcane Crypto

Arcane Crypto develops the infrastructure and products that enable worldwide adoption of bitcoin and digital assets. Arcane is building a platform for users to learn, trade and invest in digital assets, all from one account. Our market leading research content educates our users and builds trust. Arcane achieves scale by providing a platform with open APIs, allowing third parties to develop their own products using our technology and then distribute their product to our users.

Subscribe to press releases and financial information: https://investor.arcanecrypto.se/

For further information, please contact:

Torbjørn Bull Jenssen, CEO, Arcane Crypto AB

e-mail:

web: investor.arcanecrypto.se

For more information, please visit: https://www.arcane.no/

The Company is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market and Mangold Fondkommission is Certified Adviser, tel. +46 8 5030 1550, e-mail: , web: www.mangold.se.

Files for download

LN-Markets.pdf

Disclaimer
This document contains forward-looking statements which are based on the current estimates and assumptions made by the assembly team of SiLLC. Forward-looking statements are characterized by the use of words such as expect, intend, plan, predict, assume, believe, estimate, anticipate, forecast and similar formulations. Such statements are not to be understood as in any way guaranteeing that those expectations will turn out to be accurate. Future performance and the results actually achieved by SiLLC and its affiliated groups depend on a number of risks and uncertainties and may therefore differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are outside SiLLC‘s control and cannot be accurately estimated in advance, such as the future economic environment and the actions of competitors and others involved in the marketplace. SiLLC neither plans nor undertakes to update forward-looking statements.

All transaction are carrying out by SiLLC, a private portfolio management assembly. This document is not an offer of securities for sale or investment advisory services. This document contains general information only and is not intended to represent general or specific investment advice. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and targets are not guaranteed.Certain statements and forecasted data are based on current expectations, current market and economic conditions, estimates, projections, opinions and beliefs of SiLLC and/or its members. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements or in any of the case studies or forecasts. All references to SiLLC’s advisory activities relates to SiLLC International.

DeFi Technologies Joins US$45M Raise for Boba Network to Unchain Web3 Development on Ethereum

DeFi Technologies Joins US$45M Raise for Boba Network to Unchain Web3 Development on Ethereum

The Series A round values the company at US$1.5bn and assembles the brightest minds in Web3 to unlock Ethereum’s full potential
Notable co-investors include Crypto.com, M13 and Hypersphere

TORONTO, April 5, 2022 – DeFi Technologies Inc. (the “Company” or “DeFi Technologies“) (NEO: DEFI) (GR: RMJR) (OTC: DEFTF), a technology company bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance, today announces that it participated in the $45 million Series A raise for Boba Network, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and next-generation Ethereum Layer-2 Optimistic Rollup scaling solution. The Series A raise values the project at US$1.5bn. The funding will address Ethereum’s computational limitations and foster greater functionality for decentralized applications (dApps) through Boba’s Hybrid Compute platform.

The round saw notable participation from successful crypto funds such as Hypersphere Infinite Capital, Hack VC, GBV, Sanctor Capital, and Shima Capital, as well as those with strong regional networks like Kinetic Capital, Ghaf Capital, LD Capital, Old Fashion Research, Alphanonce, IOST, and ROK Capital. Other notable investors include the Dreamers VC (Will Smith and Keisuke Honda), M13 (Paris Hilton and Carter Reum), Tony Robbins, Joe Montana, and KSHMR.

Boba’s Hybrid Compute brings the power of Web2 on-chain for the first time, allowing smart contracts to call any external Web2 API to execute complex algorithms such as machine learning classifiers, pull in real-world or enterprise data in a single atomic transaction, or sync with the latest state of a gaming engine. Leveraging off-chain compute and real-world data, developers and creators can offer an enriched experience unlike anything else on the market today.

Boba’s Optimistic Rollup technology offers lightning fast transactions and fees up to 60x less than Ethereum, all while maintaining Ethereum’s robust security and decentralization. Boba also offers fast exits backed by community-driven liquidity pools, decreasing the Optimistic Rollup exit period from days to mere minutes while giving liquidity providers incentivized yield farming opportunities.

Alan Chiu, Boba Network Founder, said: “This fundraise is about building a broad-based alliance to build the Boba ecosystem. Having so many amazing investors demonstrate their confidence in our vision and technology reinforces our belief that what we’re building is important and necessary. Hybrid Compute will scale Web3 development, enabling builders to deliver innovative products with greater functionality.”

Boba also created one of the first bridges to ferry non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from layer-2 blockchains to Ethereum’s layer-1 and vice versa. Typically, when NFTs are minted on a layer-2 blockchain, they remain tied to that particular protocol. Boba’s NFT bridge allows NFTs to be moved and traded throughout the Ethereum ecosystem — greatly expanding NFT liquidity.

Diana Biggs, Chief Strategy Officer of DeFi Technologies, said: “Layer 2s are critical to the scalability and usability of Web3 and the Boba Network is arguably one of the most exciting platforms in the space. To bring these improvements whilst maintaining the security and decentralisation of Ethereum is an incredible achievement and they are only just getting started. We’re thrilled to be backing Boba and look forward to what’s to come!”

Beyond bootstrapping Boba’s development, the raise will enable the protocol to invest in Boba ecosystem projects and tap into the combined expertise of some of the biggest names in Web3. Participating investors share in Boba’s vision of fostering crypto accessibility and liberating developers who have been restricted by Ethereum computational limitations.

Additional participants include founders of industry stalwarts Quantstamp, Origin Protocol, The Graph, Fractional Art, High Street, ANKR, UMA, Nillion, deBridge, FEI Labs, DoinGud, Utopia Labs, and Sense Protocol; along with crypto exchange giants such as Crypto.com, Huobi, and BitMart.

Learn more about DeFi Technologies and Boba at defi.tech and https://boba.network.

About DeFi Technologies
DeFi Technologies Inc. is a technology company bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralised finance. Our mission is to expand investor access to industry-leading decentralised technologies which we believe lie at the heart of the future of finance. On behalf of our shareholders and investors, we identify opportunities and areas of innovation, and build and invest in new technologies and ventures in order to provide trusted, diversified exposure across the decentralized finance ecosystem. For more information or to subscribe to receive company updates and financial information, visit https://defi.tech/.

About Boba Network
Boba Network is an EVM-equivalent hybrid compute platform built on an optimistic rollup architecture, helping developers build more feature-rich dapps by enabling smart contracts to leverage complex off-chain computations or bring in off-chain data. Boba offers one of the easiest to use blockchain platforms for end users through their multi-token on-ramp, fast exit, and NFT bridge.

Boba is maintained by the Enya team.

For more information, please visit: https://boba.network

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information:

This press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Company’s participation in the Boba Network’s Series A raise; Boba’s Hybrid Compute Network and Boba’s Optimistic Rollup technology; the pursuit by DeFi Technologies and its subsidiaries of business opportunities; and the merits or potential returns of any such opportunities. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but is not limited to the ability of Boba’s Hybrid Compute Network and Boba’s Optimistic Rollup technology to perform as designed; the growth and development of DeFi and cryptocurrency sector; rules and regulations with respect to DeFi and cryptocurrency; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

All information contained in this press release with respect to DeFi Technologies and Boba Network was supplied by the parties respectively for inclusion herein, and each party and its directors and officers have relied entirely on the other parties for any information concerning the other party. DeFi Technologies has not conducted due diligence on the information provided by Boba Network and does not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information.

THE NEO STOCK EXCHANGE DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

SOURCE DeFi Technologies, Inc.

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