According to a press release, the board had decided to take this step “in the interests of the company”. The company is currently not financed through the capital market and the trading volume of the shares has been low in the recent past. Since the stock exchange listing on January 21, 2019, a total of around 5 million euros have been traded in shares, a significant part of which was settled in the first months after the listing. According to the information, only around 360,000 euros were traded in 2021, “which fundamentally calls into question the question of tradability and offers few advantages for shareholders”.
Substantial price jumps with low trading volumes and the large spread would have made it impossible for the company to convince institutional investors. Especially at the beginning of the startup300 AG listing, sales by existing shareholders who were not subject to a lock-up period made a significant contribution to the fact that the price fell significantly after just a few months, which was not compensated for with purchases from new investors may be. With the capital increase in August 2019, it was necessary to carry out a capital increase for further growth at 5 euros per share, i.e. around 50 percent below the reference price of January 2021, “which of course was not appreciated,” the board admitted in its broadcast one.
Furthermore, there is “a considerable administrative and financial effort due to the applicable and ever stricter regulations”, which can no longer be justified from an economic point of view. “Overall, the costs are not related to the company’s key financial figures.”
Despite considerable effort, the start-up “failed to anchor the attractiveness of this business model with investors”. This leads to a current stock market capitalization, which from the point of view of the board of directors is “well below the actual value of the current assets”.
High operating losses were reported in the 2019 and 2020 annual financial statements. These are mainly due to the considerable expenses for acquisitions and value adjustments on investments.
The board of directors estimates the value of the company’s assets at around EUR 15 million. That would be around. 5 million euros in liabilities to. The fixed assets primarily consisted of the investments in the venture capital fund capital300, the CONDA group of companies, the Pioneers Innovation GmbH, the factory300 division in the Tabakfabrik Linz, smaller holdings of crypto currencies, other strategic, smaller investments and a start-up portfolio of around 30 companies together. “The shares of startup300 AG are therefore valuable and the delisting step should help to secure the value and reduce avoidable costs in the interests of the shareholders,” said the management.
After the delisting, the board of directors will propose to amend the articles of association at the next ordinary general meeting in order to convert the bearer shares to registered shares and to keep them in the company’s share register. The further strategy will be to “utilize the strategic investments and start-up investments as best as possible over the next few years and to carry out a regulated disinvestment while at the same time adapting the organizational structure accordingly”
The management board wants to carry out “significant transactions” as early as the first quarter of 2022, the proceeds of which are to be used “primarily to reduce long-term liabilities” in order to reduce financing costs. Furthermore, the remuneration of the Board of Management is to be adjusted in accordance with the new tasks.
According to the information, the core shareholders, who were already involved before the stock exchange listing, hold more than 60 percent of the company, of which around 37 percent are accounted for by the management board and the supervisory board.
Source: Nachrichten
