aap Implantate AG: Refusal of audit opinions for annual financial report 2019 (HGB) and consolidated annual financial report 2019 (IFRS); implementation of various financing and cost-saving options to secure financing

aap Implantate AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous
aap Implantate AG: Refusal of audit opinions for annual financial report 2019 (HGB) and consolidated annual financial report 2019 (IFRS); implementation of various financing and cost-saving options to secure financing

29-Jun-2020 / 20:48 CET/CEST
Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

aap Implantate AG ("aap" or "Company") was informed at today's balance sheet meeting that the auditor Mazars GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgesellschaft, Hamburg, will refuse the audit opinions for the annual financial report 2019 (HGB) and the consolidated annual financial report 2019 (IFRS). The background to this is that in the auditor's view up to the time of today's balance sheet meeting no sufficient evidence could be presented that aap's financing is secured for the twelve-month period. As a result, the auditor will issue a note of refusal due to objections to the accounting on the assumption of continuation of business activity (so-called going concern). In this case too, the Supervisory Board will adopt the annual financial statements (HGB) for the 2019 financial year and approve the consolidated financial statements (IFRS) for the 2019 financial year. The publication of the annual financial report 2019 (HGB) and the consolidated annual financial report 2019 (IFRS) is scheduled for June 30, 2020.
 

aap is currently undergoing a comprehensive restructuring and refinancing process to secure the Company's continued existence and future viability. The already strained liquidity situation has been further exacerbated by the corona pandemic that has led to an enormous impairment of business operations in recent months. Against this background, the Management Board is currently intensively working on the implementation of various financing and cost-saving options. In particular, these include negotiations with the three largest shareholders on a further increase in shareholder loans after initial loans were granted in April. The three main shareholders have already given firm commitments, which are, however, subject to the condition that additional existing or new investors join and participate in the financing. In addition, the Company has received a commitment for an interest-free loan from the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) from the "Rescue Aid Corona Emergency Aid Package I" programme, subject to certain conditions. Furthermore, the Company is examining a partial sale of excess capacity of the machinery and is in far advanced negotiations on concluding a development and supply contract with a world-leading U.S. medical technology company. At the same time, the Management Board is currently in talks about possible corporate transactions (e.g. mergers, share or asset deals and carve-outs). If several options can be implemented, aap's financing would be secured.
 

In addition, the Company plans to propose to its shareholders at the Annual General Meeting in the second half of 2020 an ordinary capital decrease. The aim of this measure is to sustainably restructure aap at the financial level and thus to increase flexibility with regard to possible subsequent capital measures. Last but not least, the Management Board aims to reorganize the Company structurally and to align it on the three pillars of its innovative platform technologies in future. In this context, the three technologies LOQTEQ(R), antibacterial silver coating and resorbable magnesium implants shall be transferred to separate subsidiaries and managed independently under the umbrella of aap as a holding company. This makes it possible to manage the individual technologies more flexibly and in a more targeted manner and to implement the co-financing sought for the silver coating and magnesium implant technologies.
 

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aap Implantate AG (ISIN DE0005066609) - General Standard/Regulated Market - All German stock markets -

About aap Implantate AG
aap Implantate AG is a globally active medical technology company based in Berlin, Germany. The Company develops, manufactures and markets products for trauma. The IP-protected portfolio includes besides the innovative anatomical plating system LOQTEQ(R) a wide range of cannulated screws. In addition, aap Implantate AG has an innovation pipeline with promising development projects such as the antibacterial silver coating technology and magnesium-based implants. These technologies address critical and unmet needs in trauma. In Germany, aap Implantate AG sells its products directly to hospitals, purchasing groups, and hospital groups, while at international level it primarily uses a broad network of distributors in around 25 countries. In the US the Company pursues a hybrid distribution strategy with its subsidiary aap Implants Inc. Distribution is carried out both through distribution agents and partnerships with global orthopedic companies. aap Implantate AG's stock is listed in the General Standard segment of Frankfurt Stock Exchange (XETRA: AAQ.DE). For more information, please visit our website at www.aap.de.

Forward-looking statement
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current experience, estimates and projections of the management board and currently available information. They are not guarantees of future performance. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of aap to be materially different from those that may be expressed or implied by such statements. These factors include those discussed in aap's public reports. Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are made. aap does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this release or to conform them to future events or developments.


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