SMK Samarkand Group PLC

Samarkand Group plc (SMK) Samarkand Group plc : Samarkand Group Market Update 02-Feb-2022 / 07:00 GMT/BST Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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2nd February 2022

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Samarkand Group plc

("Samarkand", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

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Samarkand Group Market Update

Samarkand Group plc, the cross-border eCommerce technology solution provider, this morning provides a trading update based on recent trading conditions and the near-term outlook in its key market, China. Supplier-side challenges during the first half of the year had been largely mitigated by Q3 with revenue returning to strong growth as announced in our interim update on 16th December 2021. A number of externalities in the Chinese market will have a significant impact on the remainder of the financial year, a key trading period for the business. Due to current market conditions and an increased investment in our core technology we expect revenue to be lower and EBITDA loss higher for the current financial year. Despite short term volatility we do not see any structural challenges to the eCommerce market in China, which remains the biggest and most dynamic in the world. Our eCommerce platforms and logistics integrations mean we are in a strong position to ride out the volatility and ultimately capitalise upon it.

The company remains confident in the potential of its solutions and the market in which it operates. Significant progress has been made towards the objectives laid out in the growth prospectus at the IPO. The positive response from major international organisations involved in cross-border eCommerce to our solutions and the building of a partnership network to maximise the opportunity we have identified has been a major focus for the business. This is demonstrated by the strategic investment by China's largest logistics company SF Express and more recently with the announcement of an alliance partnership with FedEx. This will see our Nomad Checkout solution integrated with the FedEx system, co-branded marketing efforts and promotion as the only cross-border eCommerce solution for China to their global client base. We expect to announce further partnerships with other major organisations in due course.

We are building a healthy and growing pipeline of merchants for our Nomad Checkout solution in Europe and Asia, and the first wave of enterprise clients will launch in Q1 2022. Based on these indicators and feedback from early adopter clients and partners we are confident in the increasing demand for our technology.

The fundamentals of our eCommerce acceleration business remain strong. Our portfolio has recently been strengthened by the addition of Venture Life and we see further opportunity for brands of this nature leveraging our growing go to market infrastructure in China and we expect to update the market with material new client wins in due course.

Our owned brands continue to perform well, and we see opportunity in expanding their presence and distribution domestically and internationally. We are pleased with the early performance of the recently acquired Zita West which is growing revenues at a rate of 25% year over year.

For more information, please contact:

Samarkand Group plc                                          Via Alma PR 
David Hampstead, Chief Executive Officer 
                                                             http://samarkand.global/ 
Eva Hang, Chief Financial Officer 
 
VSA Capital - AQSE Corporate Adviser and Broker              +44(0)20 3005 5000 
Andrew Raca, James Deathe, Pascal Wiese (Corporate Finance) 
                                                             IPO@vsacapital.com 
Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking) 
 
Alma PR                                                      +44(0)20 3405 0213 
Josh Royston 
Robyn Fisher                                                 samarkand@almapr.co.uk 
Joe Pederzolli 

Notes to Editors

Samarkand is a cross-border eCommerce technology and retail group focusing on connecting International Brands with China, the world's largest eCommerce market. The Group has developed a proprietary software platform, the Nomad platform, which is integrated across all necessary touchpoints required for eCommerce in China including eCommerce platforms, payments, logistics, social media and customs. The Nomad platform is the foundation on which the Group's Nomad technology and service solutions are built. The core products include Nomad Checkout, Nomad Storefront and Nomad Distribution.

Founded in 2016, Samarkand is headquartered in London, UK with offices in Shanghai and Tokyo employing over 160 staff.

For further information please visit https://www.samarkand.global/

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ISIN:           GB00BLH1QT30 
Category Code:  TST 
TIDM:           SMK 
Sequence No.:   140249 
EQS News ID:    1275541 
 
End of Announcement  EQS News Service 
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February 02, 2022 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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