Agreement signed to launch a IM programme

SYME, the fintech business which provides an innovative fintech platform (the "Platform") for use by manufacturing and trading companies to access Inventory Monetisation© ("IM") solutions enabling their businesses to generate cashflow, following the business update provided on 5 April 2024, is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an agreement with Société Financière Européenne S.A. ("SFE") and an Italian neo banking group aimed at deploying an Inventory Monetisation programme up to €135m Euro (the "IM Securitisation Programme").

The IM Securitisation Programme comprises the following commitments:

• the Italian neo banking group, through its investment banking division, acts as arranger and, following the necessary internal approvals, funder of the senior notes and part of the junior notes issued by securitisation special purpose entities formed directly by the latter bank;
• SFE acts as co-investor of the IM Securitisation Programme subscribing the rest of the junior notes;
• SYME is the platform provider and inventory servicer of the Stock Companies owned by SFE.

The IM Securitisation Programme will be deployed over multiple tranches of approximately €35m each, the timing of which is dependent on the speed of the inventory turns of the client companies. The funding is expected to be used to fund IM transactions for Italian client companies included in the Group's pipeline.

The expected returns of the IM Securitisation Programme are in line with the Open Market IM, being IM transactions from the Group's pipeline and funded by third-party investors. In this regard, the IM Securitisation Programme is expected to generate revenues of approximately 1-3% of the gross value of the inventories monetised (purchase price plus VAT).

The Company will further update the market in due course once the first tranche of the IM Securitisation Programme is deployed and will share more information regarding the IM Securitisation Programme.

With reference to the SFE, it is worth noting that, as of today, Alessandro Zamboni, the CEO of SYME Group, has, along with a number of other investors, a personal non-controlling interest in SFE. For this reason, the IM Securitisation Programme, and the associated agreements between the Group and the dedicated stock company (which is owned by SFE) that will be signed as part of the definitive commercial agreements between the relevant parties ("Platform Agreements"), constitute a material related party transaction for the purposes of DTR 7.3 and were, accordingly, voted upon by the independent Directors (excluding Alessandro Zamboni, who, in this case, constituted a "related party" (as such term is defined in IFRS)), and such independent Directors consider this material related party transaction in respect of the IM Securitisation Programme, and the associated Platform Agreements, to be fair and reasonable from the perspective of the Company and its Shareholders who are not a related party.