u-blox Holding AG

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Health Fear Results 2021 Conference Call-in Live webcast. I am Paul, the course call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and 1 on your telephone. Webcast viewers may submit their questions or comments in writing via the relative field. For operator assistance, please press star and 0. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Thomas Saylor, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our presentation about the half-year results of 2021. I'm glad to see many attending today. We make this presentation with the usual disclaimer about forward-looking statements. So in the first round, I will provide a short overview. Then our CFO, Roland Judt, will explain to you in detail all the numbers. And later, I will talk about our strategy and outlook before we then come to questions and answers. The first half year, 2021, was successful, especially we had a very good growth of revenue in the amount of over 17% before impact of foreign exchange, including this, we had 11% growth. That is an important progress over the first half year 2020. That was a strong one still before the COVID crisis really then took place. At the same time, this first half year, very successful also at the level of gross profit. The profits grew even more by 13%. This is all a result of various effects, mostly by product mix, also because our gross margin is naturally hedged against foreign exchange variations, and also we were able to manage price. Then what is a strong number is the ABTA that has made progress by 20%. In conjunction also, we can read the cash flow numbers for operating cash flow that achieved 43 million and free cash flow was positive with 28 million, both a strong increase over first half year 2020. Now, why have we been so much better? First of all, of course, the top line has delivered more, and especially with gross profits. But also, you remember, in 2020, we have exercised a cost reduction program that, of course, has now taken effect and has helped to provide such strong numbers on the profits and especially on the cash flow side. With that, I hand over to our CFO, Roland Luth, to explain to you the details.

Mr. Jude, we cannot hear you. Maybe your line is on mute.