DGAP-News: KPS publishes business figures for 2020/2021 and gives positive outlook for 2021/2022

KPS publishes business figures for 2020/2021 and gives positive outlook for 2021/2022

• Sales amounting to 158 million euros represent a 5.1% fall owing to the challenging situation experienced by individual customers in bricks-and-mortar retailing as a result of the pandemic
• Strict cost management and proven business model can significantly limit impacts on EBITDA and EBIT; Profit after tax increases by 7.1%
• In the second half year of 2020/2021, first signs of a trend reversal - return to a growth trajectory expected for the business year 2021/2022

Unterföhring/Munich, 20 January 2022 - KPS AG (WKN: A1A6V4 / ISIN: DE000A1A6V48), Europe's leading consulting firm for digital transformation and process optimization in retail, publishes the results for the business year 2020/2021.

Sales performance defined by two countervailing effects

In the business year 2020/2021, KPS achieved sales amounting to 158 million euros. Sales dropped 5.1% compared to 2019/2020. Sales performance was defined by two countervailing effects. Demand for transformation projects by retail companies in Germany continued to be muted due to the ongoing challenging situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, development outside Germany was again positive. KPS was able to increase revenues from its international activities by 9.1% to 90.4 million euros. The share of revenues generated abroad rose from 49.8% in the 2019/2020 business year to 57.2% in the 2020/2021 business year. The drivers of this growth were KPS' e-commerce and omnichannel solutions.

Business model demonstrates its strengths once more - Moderate impacts on EBITDA and EBIT

As in the business year 2019/2020, the business model and the strategy of the KPS Group have once again demonstrated their strengths. While revenue declined by EUR 8.5 million, EBITDA fell moderately by EUR 1.0 million to EUR 21.6 million (previous year: EUR 22.7 million). EBIT was EUR 13.4 million (2019/2020: EUR 14.1 million), EUR 0.7 million below the previous year's figure. The cost base was reduced by a total of EUR 7.7 million to EUR 138.5 million (2019/2020: EUR 146.1 million), in particular due to a reduced use of freelance staff.

Earnings after income taxes increased by 7.1% to 8.7 million euros due to the improved financial result and tax rate.

Proposal to increase the dividend by 11.7% to 19 euro cents

At the Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2022, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Directors will propose a dividend of 0.19 euros per share. The dividend proposal takes into account the net income generated as well as the uncertainties arising from the further course of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Compared to the 2019/2020 financial year, the dividend proposal corresponds to an increase of 11.7% (dividend 2019/2020: 17 euro cents).

Ongoing development of the Rapid Transformation Method to become the Instant Platforms Family

KPS has continued to invest strategically in its innovative strength and technology even during the challenging business year 2020/2021. As a consequence, the Rapid Transformation Method, which has been tried and tested for years, was further developed into the Instant Platforms family. Instant Platforms are ready-to-use, standardised platform solutions with which companies can immediately initiate and implement their digital transformation. The Instant Platforms solutions have been developed for five sectors: Style, Grocery, Merchant, Foodservice and Growth. They enable companies to significantly accelerate their digital transformation while at the same time considerably reducing their investment expenditure. KPS expects to significantly improve its competitive position with this innovation.

Assessment for the business year 2020/2021 - return to growth trajectory expected

The first signs of a trend reversal and return to a growth trajectory for sales was already visible in the second half of 2020/2021. KPS is cautiously optimistic for the financial year 2021/2022. On the basis of the data available and the current level of information in January 2022, the Executive Board estimates that sales in the business year 2021/2022 will increase in the middle to high single-digit range compared with the previous year 2020/2021. Furthermore, the Executive Board believes that it will be possible to achieve an EBITDA at least at the level of the previous year 2020/2021.

The comprehensive Annual Report 2020/2021 is available here for download with immediate effect.

20 January 2022

KPS AG
 

The Executive Board
 

About KPS
KPS is Europe's leading transformation consultancy for companies who want to radically focus on the customer and realign their business processes and technologies accordingly. KPS delivers everything from a single source: strategy consulting, industry-specific process chains as well as the implementation of the latest technologies. KPS is one of the few consulting partners who advise their clients end-to-end and integrate ERP, B2B and B2C commerce with Marketing & Sales processes. Especially in a digital world, the capability to execute projects faster is a clear and significant competitive advantage: The KPS Instant-Transformation methodology accelerates projects. With around 1,100 consultants in 9 countries, KPS continues to expand its market position by delivering successful digital and technological transformation projects.

Reshape and transform rapidly. Your business in a digital world. www.kps.com

KPS AG
Beta-Straße 10H
85774 Unterföhring
Telefon: +49 (0) 89 356 31-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 89 356 31-3300
E-Mail: ir@kps.com