DGAP-News: Vectron Systems AG: Vectron Systems publishes figures for the fiscal year 2018

Münster, 30 April 2019: Vectron Systems AG (Vectron), a leading provider of intelligent, digitised POS systems consisting of hardware, software and cloud services, with focus on the catering and bakery trade, has presented the figures for the fiscal year 2018.

After the 2017 fiscal year experienced a considerable increase in sales due to the first phase of fiscalization of POS systems, the 2018 fiscal year saw a marked reluctance to buy on the POS market, which can be explained by customers waiting for the final legal introduction of the new fiscalization system on January 1, 2020.

Based on its experience with fiscalisation in Austria, the company expects demand to increase significantly only shortly before the legal conversion date. In Austria, sales increased by a factor of 4 in the course of fiscalization over a period of about 3 years. Vectron expects a similar development for the structurally comparable market in Germany. With the new legal requirement as of January 1, 2020, it is expected that the aforementioned reluctance to buy will end in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year and that sales will then increase significantly again.

Hence, sales in the transition year 2018 decreased significantly from KEUR 32.4 to KEUR 24.8. The missing revenue side is also reflected in the annual result, which at -KEUR 3.9 was also below the after-tax profit for 2017 (KEUR 1.1). In addition to the decline in revenues, the result was significantly influenced by massive investments in the new digital business models. About one third of the 183 employees have been hired in recent years to develop digital revenue sources.

These high current expenses for the digital business in conjunction with high one-time expenses largely explain the loss in the 2018 financial year. The company continued to be profitable in its pure core business.

The management is convinced to be on the right track with these investments in the digital business, as the bakery and catering industry are currently being hit by the digital revolution and there is considerable business potential here. Vectron plans to multiply sales and earnings within a few years through new, digital business models. The company will publish a detailed plan shortly.

The detailed annual report for the past fiscal year 2018 is now available for download.

About Vectron:

With more than 200,000 installations, the listed Vectron Systems AG is one of the leading European manufacturers of POS systems. Stable hardware combined with flexible, reliable software has made us the market leader for POS solutions in the German-speaking area and in the Benelux countries in the catering and bakery sectors. Several hundred specialist trade partners distribute the products internationally. Digital cloud services are offered under the brand names myVectron and bonVito. The portfolio ranges from loyalty and payment functions to online reservation and reporting. All the services are directly connected to the POS system, making it the core data center. More information available at www.vectron.de.