ASCENDIS HEALTH LIMITED - Voluntary Update On Repayment Of Senior Debt And Trading Statement For The Six Months Ended 31 December 2022

Voluntary Update On Repayment Of Senior Debt And Trading Statement For The Six Months Ended 31 December 2022

Ascendis Health Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number: 2008/005856/06)
Share code: ASC
ISIN: ZAE000185005
(“Ascendis” or “the Company”)


VOLUNTARY UPDATE ON REPAYMENT OF SENIOR DEBT AND TRADING STATEMENT FOR
THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022


VOLUNTARY UPDATE ON REPAYMENT OF SENIOR DEBT

Ascendis is pleased to advise that it has successfully repaid the final tranche of its outstanding senior
debt, marking the first time since listing in 2013 that Ascendis and its subsidiaries (“the Group”) have
a wholly unleveraged balance sheet and signalling the end to what has been an immensely
challenging period of divestments and restructuring for all stakeholders.

In the near term, the Group continues to face certain legacy challenges arising from this tumultuous
period but significant progress has been made in salvaging value for shareholders. Management
remains confident and committed to the ongoing interventions and initiatives being undertaken across
the portfolio to ensure that shareholders realise maximum value over the long term.

TRADING STATEMENT

In terms of the Listings Requirements of the JSE Limited, a listed company is required to publish a
trading statement as soon as a reasonable degree of certainty exists that the financial results for the
period to be reported on next will differ by 20% or more from the financial results for the previous
published corresponding period.

Accordingly, the Company hereby advises that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that for the
six-month period ended 31 December 2022:

Continuing Operations:

   -   loss per share from continuing operations will be between 26.4 cents and 32.3 cents,
       representing an improvement/decrease of between 80.9% and 76.7% compared to the
       restated loss per share from continuing operations of 138.7 cents reported for the six- month
       period ended 31 December 2021(“Prior Corresponding Period”);

   -   headline loss per share from continuing operations will be between 26.5 cents and 32.3 cents,
       representing an improvement/decrease of between 77.2% and 72.1% compared to the
       restated headline loss per share from continuing operations of 115.9 cents reported for the
       Prior Corresponding Period; and

   -   normalised headline loss per share* from continuing operations will be between 13.9 cents
       and 17 cents, representing an improvement/decrease of between 84.5% and 81.1% compared
       to the restated normalised headline loss per share from continuing operations of 89.9 cents
       reported for the Prior Corresponding Period.

Total Operations:

   -   earnings per share will be between 29.2 cents and 35.7 cents, representing a decrease of
       between 56.5% and 46.8% compared to the restated earnings per share from total operations
       of 67.1 cents reported for the Prior Corresponding Period;

   -   headline loss per share will be between 24.7 cents and 30.2 cents, representing an
       improvement/decrease of between 64.5% and 56.6% compared to the restated headline loss
       per share from total operations of 69.4 cents reported for the Prior Corresponding Period; and

   -   normalised headline loss per share* will be between 19.9 cents and 12.1 cents, representing
       an improvement/decrease of between 35.4% and 60.6% compared to the restated normalised
       headline loss per share from total operations of 30.8 cents reported for the Prior
       Corresponding Period.

Restatement of Comparative Reporting Period

The current period results reflect the results of Ascendis Pharma under discontinuing operations in
line with the requirements of IFRS 5: Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations,
and those of Medical Devices and Consumer Health as continuing operations. The comparative
results disclosed for the prior corresponding period have been restated accordingly with Medical
Devices having been moved from discontinued operations to continuing operations.

The reconciliation below provides a high-level overview of the impact of the above reclassification on
total operations and continuing operations:

                                                           Continuing Operations^              Total Operations^
                Revenue     Loss from     Profit for    Loss    Headline  Normalised    Earnings   Headline    Normalised
                  from      continuing    the year       per    Loss per    headline      per      loss per     headline
               continuing   operations   from total     share     share    loss per      share       share      loss per
               operations     (R’000)    operations    (cents)   (cents)     share      (cents)     (cents)      share
                 (R’000)                   (R’000)                          (cents)                             (cents)

As reported     298 382      490 514      234 822       102.1     114.6       91.0        48.6        61.8        22.6
interim
period
FY2021

Restatement     479 269      171 795       86 836        36.6      1.3        -1.1        18.5         7.6         8.2

Restated        777 651      662 309      321 658       138.7     115.9       89.9        67.1        69.4        30.8
interim
period
FY2021

Further details on the restatement will be included in the unaudited results for the six months ended
31 December 2022.

The financial information on which this trading statement is based has not been reviewed or
reported on by the auditor of the Company. The expected publication date of the unaudited results for
the six months ended 31 December 2022 is 27 March 2023.

Footnotes:
* Normalised headline earnings (loss) and normalised headline earnings (loss) per share are
  alternative performance measures or non-IFRS measures. Further details regarding the
  computation of the performance measures and its purpose can be found on the Company’s website
  via  https://ascendishealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ascendis-Health-
  PerformanceMeasures-30-June-2020.pdf
^ The weighted average number of shares outstanding for the period ended 31 December 2021
  has been restated in accordance with IAS 33 (par.27(b),28,64).


Johannesburg
16 March 2023


Sponsor
Valeo Capital (Pty) Ltd

Date: 16-03-2023 05:28:00
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