Safello Publishes Interim Report for the First Quarter 2023

Stockholm, 12 May 2023 | Today, Safello Group AB (“Safello”) publishes the company’s Interim Report for the first quarter of 2023. The report can be found on safello.com/ir. In the first quarter, Safello continued operational improvement and turned to profitability. EBITDA improved to SEK 1.4 million compared to SEK -3.1 million in the corresponding period in the previous year. Net profit also improved to SEK 3.0 million (-4.0). 

Summary of the first quarter (Jan-Mar 2023)

• Net turnover decreased by -33% and amounted to SEK 138.1 million (205.2).
• Gross profit increased by +34% and amounted to SEK 11.4 million (8.5). Withdrawal fees contributed SEK 2.9 million (0.0).
• Operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK 1.4 million (-3.1).
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 3.0 million (-4.0). The operating profit was positively affected by an adjustment of the value of long term crypto holdings by around SEK 2.5 million.
• Net profit/loss in the period amounted to SEK 3.0 million (-4.0).
• Earnings per share based on the average number of shares (20,449,600 shares) amounted to SEK 0.15 (-0.20).
• Earnings per share based on the average number of shares after potential dilution (21,440,668 shares) amounted to SEK 0.14 (-0.19).
• The Group had a cash balance of SEK 19.8 million (SEK 21.3 million at year end 2022) at the end of the first quarter and in addition 18 BTC (18) and 110 ETH (110) in liquid crypto assets. The market value of the crypto assets was SEK 7.4 million (4.4) at the end of the quarter. The book value at the end of the quarter was SEK 7.4 million (4.9), representing a positive adjustment of the book value by SEK 2.5 million. 
• The number of executed orders decreased by -3% to 63,158 orders (64,841).

Significant events during the quarter

• On 12 January Safello added 3 new coins to its cryptocurrency offering; USDC, Uniswap and Algorand. Safello is the first Swedish broker to offer the stablecoin USDC to its customers. In conjunction with the launch, Safello also enables withdrawals and deposits of current cryptocurrencies Polygon and Chainlink.
• On 22 February, Safello appointed Viktoria Berglund Blohmé as Head of Finance as CFO Johan Edin will leave the company. The change will take place in August 2023.
• On March 9, Safello announced that Frank Schuil had been appointed as chairman of the board and that Emelie Moritz took on the role as CEO. Emelie Moritz joined Safello in March 2022 as COO and has since contributed to the development of Safello in its positioning as the leading crypto broker in Sweden. The previous chairman, Jacob Jacobsson, who resigned from his chairmanship, will remain with the board during the full term of office.

Significant events after the end of the quarter

• On 4 April Safello entered into an agreement with BCB Group, a global infrastructure and payment service provider for digital assets firms. The usage of BCB Group’s services aims to complement and strengthen Safello's trading and settlement infrastructure.
• On 27 April Handelsbanken terminated Safello’s access to the payment services Swish Handel and Swish Företag with immediate effect due to suspicions on Safello’s services being used for or in connection with sale of goods and services which, according to the bank's assessment, are contrary to Swedish or foreign law or other constitution or Swedish or foreign authority decision. There is no consensus regarding Handelsbanken's decision and Safello is evaluating alternative payment solutions.
• On 4 May, Safello announced that Viktor Fritzén joins as board director of the Board of Directors of Safello Group AB. Viktor has experience as a professional board member in numerous listed and non-listed companies within the financial industry, including Avanza and CoinShares. Prior to that, he served as the CFO of LeoVegas gaming group, which he was part of growing from a startup to a listed company. Beginning his career in equity research at Goldman Sachs, he has since held various roles in investment banking within the technology sector. Viktor replaces former director Knut Pedersen.
• On May 5, Safello announced that instant payments are available as a payment method for transactions. Safello's customers can securely purchase digital assets through instant payment. The option for instant payments is provided by an external payment service provider and replaces the terminated payment method Swish. Safello continuously evaluates adding more payment methods to the platform.

“​​The crypto market reached its bottom at the turn of the year and during the first quarter prices have stabilized at a significantly higher level, which has led to increased interest from both private savers such as companies and financial institutions. Safello has increased operational efficiency, continued to reduce costs, expanded the range of cryptocurrencies and developed the internal trading platform to be able to more easily scale up trading volumes. As a consequence, Safello delivers a profitable quarter. In the coming quarters, Safello will continue to develop its product and business to create value for our customers combined with a continued focus on costs, whose reductions will have full effect in the fourth quarter of 2023”, says Emelie Moritz, CEO of Safello.

Today, at 10:00 CET, Safello will present the interim report and conduct a Q&A session during a livestream on the company’s LinkedIn and YouTube.

For environmental and cost reasons, Safello Group AB has decided not to print the report. A printout may be distributed to shareholders upon request. 

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This information is such that Safello Group AB is required to disclose in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was provided by the contact person below, for publication at 08:00 on 12 May 2023.

For more information, please contact
Johan Edin, CFO, ir@safello.com

Certified Adviser
Amudova AB is Safello’s certified adviser. Phone +46 8 546 017 58. E-mail: info@amudova.se

Safello is the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the Nordics, with over 300,000 users. The company is empowering financial independence by making crypto accessible to everyone. Safello offers a secure way to buy, sell and store crypto in seamless transactions at industry-leading speeds. Operating in Sweden, Safello has been registered as a financial institution with Finansinspektionen (Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) since 2013 and is listed at Nasdaq First North Growth Market since 2021. For more information visit www.safello.com.