We keep you updated.

• EOS clearly profitable despite slight decline in revenue and earnings
• High level of investment in secured and unsecured receivables accompanied by targeted cost-cutting measures
• Corporate responsibility to be firmly embedded in business model

Hamburg, August 11, 2021 – Despite all the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hamburg-based EOS Group successfully concluded its 2020/21 financial year (ending on 28 February). With a slight decline in revenue of 7.1 percent to EUR 792.5 million, the financial investor and technology-driven debt collection service provider reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of EUR 312.4 million (previous year: EUR 343.4 million). Apart from the restrictions on collection activity due to statutory moratoriums in several countries, the financial year was marked by a decline in the volume of non-performing loans (NPLs) on offer on the receivables market. Nevertheless, EOS was once again able to invest a significant sum (EUR 534.3 million) in secured and unsecured receivables and real estate in need of restructuring.

“In view of the difficult conditions of the last year, the positive operating result was by no means a given,” says Klaus Engberding, CEO of the EOS Group. “We needed to continually assess the wider implications of the pandemic, make the right investment decisions and adjust our costs accordingly. I am therefore extremely proud of the fantastic achievement of our teams who faced up to these challenges and made this success possible through their dedicated collaboration.”

Social responsibility to become integral part of business model

The ongoing development of the organization and heavy investment in IT to improve business operations were the key drivers behind the sustained stability of EOS. The values-driven yet forward-looking approach of EOS, which is part of the Otto Group, also contributed to its success. With a new corporate responsibility (CR) strategy, the EOS Group aims to firmly embed four key actionable areas into its business model in future. In this context, the focus is on solution-driven and sustainable debt relief for defaulting consumers, proactive funding initiatives and (financial) education measures, climate-neutral operation by 2030, and the championing of strict and binding industry standards in all 26 countries where the company is located. 

“As one of the leaders in our industry we are absolutely aware of our responsibility towards society. Through our actions, we do not just want to help the economic system to function by improving the financial situation of our clients and of defaulting payers; we also aim to use our new CR strategy to do our part to change the world we operate in for the better overall,” says Engberding.

Overview of key figures:

	2020/21	2019/20
Sales revenue (in EUR million)	792.5	853.1
of which
Germany	289.1	303.3
Eastern Europe	249.7	266.7
Western Europe	207.1	232.0
North America	46.6	51.0
EBITDA (in EUR million)	312.4	343.4

Different figures may appear in tables due to rounding.

Stable business performance in Western Europe

The continued stable business performance in France, Belgium, Spain and Denmark enabled EOS to report a good result overall for Western Europe. At EUR 207.1 million, the region accounted for more than a quarter (26.1 percent) of the total revenue of EOS Consolidated. Moreover, the EOS companies in France and Belgium were able to reinforce their position as leading providers for debt purchases. In Spain too, EOS increasingly shifted its focus from fiduciary collection to receivables purchasing, and was able to build up a strong market position as a buyer of debt portfolios.

Accordingly, EOS in Spain closed the year with record investments, e.g. in three NPL portfolios comprising a total 232,000 receivables and with a nominal value of EUR 810 million. “Thanks to our longstanding experience, and despite the lower volume of NPLs on the market, we were once again a preferred partner for our customers,” explains Dr. Andreas Witzig, member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors with responsibility for Western Europe. “Our companies in the region are in a good position, so we are confident of being able to continue to expand our receivables purchasing activities in the new financial year.”

Higher sales revenues in North America

In North America, EOS was able to substantially increase its earnings from receivables purchases, despite a lower revenue overall of EUR 46.6 million. Solid investments in the USA were the key to this result. In Canada too, EOS was able to improve its result on a year-on-year basis in fiscal 2020/21 thanks to strict cost discipline. “The COVID-19 crisis hit the North American market hard, but we were in the position to offset the considerable loss of revenue on the earnings side through massive cost savings,” explains Dr. Andreas Witzig, member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors with responsibility for North America.

About EOS Group

The EOS Group is one of the leading technology-driven financial investors and an expert in the processing of outstanding receivables. The company's core business is the purchase of unsecured and secured debt portfolios. With over 45 years of experience, EOS offers some 20,000 customers in 26 countries around the world smart services for all their receivables management needs. Its focus is on banks and companies from the real estate, telecommunications, energy supply and e-commerce sectors. EOS employs more than 6,800 people and is part of the Otto Group.

• The rating agency reconfirms the good solvency of EOS.
• It expects earnings to develop positively in the current financial year 2021/22. 

A Coruna, August 3, 2021 – For the 17th time in a row, Scope Hamburg, formerly Euler Hermes Rating, has given EOS Holding an A rating. Thanks to the company’s high earnings and very stable cash flows, the rating agency once again confirmed the excellent credit standing of EOS. The rating rationale also emphasized the extensive experience of EOS, as a financial services provider and investor, in the valuation, acquisition and recovery of non-performing receivables, its leading market position in Germany and strong market position in Europe.

EOS weathered the COVID-19 crisis solidly and was able to cement the trust of its business partners. Accordingly, Scope Hamburg rates the company’s financial risk as low and its capital structure, deleveraging potential and interest coverage ratio as good or very good. The rating agency also expects the company’s earnings to grow in the current 2021/22 financial year.

Sustained investment at a high level

“The last financial year was particularly challenging. We needed to assess the potential effects of the crisis in good time and make the right investment decisions. By successfully bringing down costs during this period, the decline in earnings stayed within acceptable limits and EOS made a clear profit, even in this crisis year,” explains Justus Hecking-Veltman, Chief Financial Officer of the EOS Group. “For our development going forward, two decisions were important: Firstly, we again invested heavily in receivables packages. And secondly, we systematically pursued the upgrade of our IT systems to enable us to manage the company even better and with the use of more digital tools in future.”

EOS has stepped up its activities as a financial investor in recent years and has become established in many countries as a market leader for the purchase of debt packages. In fiscal 2020/21, the company invested EUR 534.3 million in unsecured and secured receivables and real estate in need of restructuring.

About EOS Group

The EOS Group is one of the leading technology-driven financial investors and an expert in the processing of outstanding receivables. The company's core business is the purchase of unsecured and secured debt portfolios. With over 40 years of experience, EOS offers some 20,000 customers in 26 countries around the world smart services for all their receivables management needs. Its key target sectors are banking, utilities, real estate and e-commerce. EOS employs more than 7,500 people and is part of the Otto Group.

For more information on EOS Group, please go to www.eos-solutions.com

• Increase in revenue due to strong business performance in Eastern Europe
• Again, a high level of investment in secured and unsecured receivables
• Strong push towards digitalization

Hamburg, Germany, July 15, 2020 – By consistently following its strategic direction as a technology-driven debt collection provider and financial investor, the EOS Group headquartered in Hamburg has again increased its revenue in the 2019/20 financial year. With a 4.8% increase in revenue to EUR 853.1 million, the previous year recorded very positive results. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew to EUR 343.4 million.

Regional strengths, push for digitalization and high level of investment key success factors

The international provider of tailored financial services, which is part of the Otto Group, can largely attribute its increase in earnings to a substantial 31.3% increase in revenue in Eastern Europe. Other important success factors include the strong push towards digitalization and the cultural development of the EOS Group combined with the consistently high level of investment of EUR 651.3 million in secured and unsecured receivables and real estate.

“I feel very proud as I look back at the last financial year. It is the most successful year in the history of the EOS Group,” says Klaus Engberding, CEO of the EOS Group. “Above all, I would like to single out the tremendous progress we have made in digitalization, with EUR 25 million invested in expanding our core IT systems, and the focus on our cultural transformation process. The use of artificial intelligence and advanced data analyses will help boost innovation in our industry. And in uncertain times like in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, in particular, reliable processes, highly professional receivables management and sustainable financing are more important than ever for companies. We can offer all of this to our customers and we expect successful growth for our business in the coming year too.”

Germany remains most important EOS market

Germany is again the strongest performing region in the EOS Group, with a 35.6% share of the consolidated revenue. The decline compared to the previous year to EUR 303.3 million resulted primarily from the sale of EOS Health Honorarmanagement AG. Even though fewer significant debt packages were offered on the highly competitive German market, EOS won crucial revolving portfolios and confirmed its leading position on account of its many years of experience and good reputation. Totaling EUR 236.0 million, the level of investment exceeded that of the previous year – particularly in the area of unsecured receivables.

“The success in Germany is primarily due to our operational excellence and intense sales activities in close proximity to our customers. Together with numerous digitalization initiatives and our outstanding reputation – also with respect to data protection – this makes us a reliable and attractive partner for our customers,” says Andreas Kropp, Member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors and responsible for the German market. “To secure this position and our future viability, we are focusing our investments on our most important areas: employees, culture and technology.”

Substantial revenue increase in Eastern Europe leads to record high

With a EUR 63.6 million increase in revenue compared with the previous year to EUR 266.7 million in the region of Eastern Europe, EOS is thrilled to achieve a record high. This can be largely attributed to much higher revenues from receivables purchases, especially in Russia and Poland, but Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria also made significant gains in revenue. Other major drivers included the development of collection software “Kollecto +” and the resulting increased efficiency in the processing of receivables. In the last financial year, EOS in Eastern Europe also carried out significant transactions in non-performing loans (NPL). The highest NPL investments were made in Poland, Croatia, Russia and Hungary. In addition, with an NPL portfolio comprising EUR 350 million, Bulgaria made the largest secured debt purchase on the Bulgarian market to date.

“Our strong local expertise, our approach to dealing fairly with defaulting payers and our cooperation with customers, often across borders, are all paying off,” explains Marwin Ramcke, Member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors and responsible for Eastern Europe. “As a result, we gained important momentum in secured and unsecured debt collection and could share knowledge and expertise within the Group. We also made substantial investments in secured debt portfolios in Slovenia and Serbia, and are now in a position to process secured and unsecured receivables in all the Eastern European countries in the best possible way,” says Ramcke.

Stable business performance in Western Europe

In Western Europe, the very pleasing operational business performance in Belgium, France and Austria resulted in a 5% overall increase in revenue, exceeding the previous year’s result. Therefore, the regional EOS companies again held their ground as the leading provider for debt purchasing. Despite persistently tough market conditions, France stood out and made significantly larger investments in both portfolios secured by real estate and unsecured portfolios. Belgium and Spain also increased their investment activities. The nominal value of a package of 47,000 receivables that EOS Aremas in Belgium purchased from bpost bank, for example, is EUR 36 million.

“The EOS Group is very well positioned in Western Europe. Thanks to our expertise and many years of experience, especially in banking and telecommunications, we are a preferred strategic partner for our customers,” comments Dr. Andreas Witzig, Member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors and responsible for the Western European and North American regions. “We are making huge investments in big data and analytics and are helping to resolve problems relating to NPLs. Despite the coronavirus crisis, which has hit France and Spain particularly hard, we remain a reliable partner in the field of fiduciary services and debt purchasing,” confirms Witzig..

Growing investments in North America

With a five percent increase in revenue of EUR 2.6 million, the North American region was slightly above the previous year’s result. In particular, the strategic focus on debt purchasing, in which EOS invested a total of EUR 28.8 million, almost EUR 4 million more than the previous year, paid off in the USA. In Canada, revenue was markedly above the 2018/19 financial year and thus well above target. The focus on fiduciary services, in particular, was developed further.

“The North American market is a challenging environment for the EOS Group, but Canada is developing very satisfactorily,” comments Dr. Andreas Witzig, Member of the EOS Group’s Board of Directors and responsible for the Western European and North American regions. “We have become one of the market leaders in fiduciary collection there in recent years and have clearly exceeded the expectations for revenue and earnings for 2019/20. Along with our Canadian team, we are very proud of this. In the US, our increased investment in purchase of receivables is showing positive trends. We intend to continue this focus in the current financial year,” adds Witzig.

About EOS Group

The EOS Group is one of the leading technology-driven financial investors and an expert in the processing of outstanding receivables. The company's core business is the purchase of unsecured and secured debt portfolios. With over 40 years of experience, EOS offers some 20,000 customers in 26 countries around the world smart services for all their receivables management needs. Its key target sectors are banking, utilities, real estate and e-commerce. EOS employs more than 7,500 people and is part of the Otto Group.

For more information on EOS Group, please go to eos-solutions.com

Hamburg, 29.05.2018 - The EOS Group is planning to sell Hamburg-based Health AG and Zahnärztekasse AG, which is located in Switzerland. The companies, both of which have a strong position in the market, offer potential buyers the ideal conditions for establishing a pan-European platform in dental factoring. In addition, the innovative practice management software "Hēa" will enable the development of new markets.

'Our two companies are operating in future markets – healthcare and technology', says Klaus Engberding, CEO of EOS. 'To tap into additional business segments and new markets in the health sector we are now seeking the most suitable future owner to actively support the companies during their next growth phases.' With a factoring volume of around EUR 1 billion, Health AG and Zahnärztekasse AG, together, generate sales in the mid double-digit million Euro range.

Sale by auction
Health AG and Zahnärztekasse AG will be offered for sale together. The sale will be managed by means of a structured auction procedure and potential investors will be approached as of June 2018. Interested parties can submit a non-binding offer by the beginning of September. The completion of the transaction is planned for February 2019. In the past, strategic buyers and financial investors have shown great interest in Health AG and Zahnärztekasse AG. EOS has engaged investment bank Lazard (Frankfurt branch) to ensure an efficient sale process.

Health AG
Health AG, consisting of EOS Health Honorarmanagement AG and EOS Health IT-Concept GmbH, is a provider of financial and IT services for the health market. With more than 2000 customers it is one of the market leaders in German dental factoring. Moreover, thanks to its recently introduced practice management software Hēa, the company is now a frontrunner in the e-health segment: Hēa digitises, networks and simplifies all processes for the web-based management of dental practices with a focus on billing. Since its establishment in 2005, the company has evolved from a factoring start-up to an independent company providing financial and technology services.

Zahnärztekasse AG
Zahnärztekasse AG is a financial services provider in the health sector and with 1000 customers has become the market leader in the Swiss dental factoring segment. Its customised and modular based services, combined with an efficient IT infrastructure, relieves medical practice teams of administrative tasks and secures the liquidity of its clients. Since its foundation in 1963 the company has become established as a reliable partner to Swiss dentists.

Contact for press and media:
fischerAppelt, relations GmbH
Email: eos@fischerappelt.de, Tel.: +49 40 899 699 347

Majority of EU companies associate new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with even more data security in the receivables management segment / Companies report extra work above all in administrative and HR areas / More than 10 percent of EU companies not familiar with GDPR

Hamburg, 22 May 2018 – Europe’s companies generally have a positive attitude to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), despite the extra work involved. This is because more than two thirds (69 percent) of all European companies that rate the new regulation as relevant to them will benefit from greater data security in receivables management. This applies in particular to Spanish and Danish companies (each 78 percent); in Germany, on the other hand, the figure is 71 percent. These results were the outcome of a special analysis by the EOS Group on the impact of the new regulation in Europe. The survey polled 3,000 companies in 15 European countries. The analysis is part of the EOS Survey ‘European Payment Practices' 2018 conducted by independent market research institute Kantar TNS.

GDPR: Only just over half of EU companies considers it relevant
‘The special analysis shows how important data security and data protection are for European companies,’ explains Kirsten Pedd, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief General Counsel of the EOS Group in Germany. ‘Nevertheless there are still companies that are not familiar with the GDPR at all. There is a risk that the regulation is being taken lightly.’ The EOS analysis shows that 11 percent of the EU companies polled have not known about the GDPR so far. A quarter of the companies surveyed (25 percent) are familiar with the regulation but think it is not very relevant or not relevant at all to their own business. Only just over half (57 percent) of companies polled consider the new regulation to be relevant to them.

Extra work throughout Europe - espacially in the administrative and HR areas
The 57 percent of EU companies that recognise that the GDPR is relevant to them also report that there is extra work involved, primarily affecting administration. As well as an increase in documentation obligations, around two thirds (69 percent) of companies say that there is more bureaucracy as a result of implementing the regulation and an increase in information obligations (65 percent). More than half of the companies (55 percent) also report an increase in the need for personnel resources. A total of 26 percent of companies even state that the GDPR could jeopardise their business model.

Receivables management: companies well prepared
‘Although most experts for receivables management are prepared for the extra work that may be involved, they clearly associate the GDPR with more data security and data protection,’ concludes Kirsten Pedd. ‘Thanks to this clear awareness, companies are well prepared for the implementation of the regulation.’

The GDPR applies to all EU companies from 25 May
The GDPR is a regulation of the European Union that affects private companies and public bodies. The regulation has been in force since 25 May 2016, but all EU countries have to implement it from 25 May 2018. The objective of the regulation is to protect personal data within the EU and ensure free movement of data within the EU single market.


About the EOS survey ‘European Payment Practices’ 2018
In the spring of 2018, in partnership with independent market research institute Kantar TNS (formerly TNS Infratest), EOS surveyed 3,400 companies with a minimum of 20 staff and an annual turnover of at least €5 million about prevailing local payment practices, economic developments in their countries, and issues relating to risk and receivables management. The results presented here are part of a special analysis of the survey of 3,000 companies from 15 EU countries: Germany, UK, Spain, France, Belgium, Austria, Romania, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland and Greece.

The EOS Group
The EOS Group is one of the leading international providers of customised financial services. Its main focus is on receivables management covering three key business segments: fiduciary collection, debt purchase and business process outsourcing. With around 7,000 employees and more than 55 subsidiaries, EOS offers some 20,000 clients in 26 countries around the world financial security with tailored services in the B2C and B2B segments. Being connected to an international network of partner companies, the EOS Group has access to resources in more than 180 countries. Its key target sectors are banking, utilities and telecommunications, along with the public sector, real estate, mail order and e-commerce. For more information please visit: www.eos-solutions.com.