GK Software AG continued to grow its turnover significantly by 26.5 percent to a figure of EUR 53.10 million during the first nine months of 2016, according to provisional figures (first 9M of 2015: EUR 41.98 million).

• Turnover increases by 26.5 percent after nine months, according to provisional figures
• EBITDA reaches EUR 4.04 million

The EBITDA rose greatly to EUR 4.04 million, following a figure of EUR (0.76) million in the previous year. The EBIT reached a figure of EUR 1.04 million (first 9M of 2015: EUR (3.36) million). The reasons for the nine months results were a strong turnover in licenses and a major increase in efficiency in the consulting and implementation department.

Based on these results and the sales opportunities in the first nine months of the year, the Management Board continues to assume that the company will be able to significantly increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year, as expected; and it is maintaining its forecast for the year 2016 and the medium-term without making any changes or amendments.

The full nine months report is expected to be published on November 29.

• Turnover increases by 30 percent to EUR 35.08 million in comparison with the same period in the previous year, according to provisional figures
• EBITDA reaches EUR 2.29 million

Schöneck, 17. August 2016 - GK Software AG once again increased its turnover enormously by 30.6 percent to a figure of EUR 35.08 million during the first half of 2016 according to provisional figures (first half of 2015: EUR 26.86 million). The EBITDA rose even more strongly to EUR 2.29 million, following a figure of EUR (0.69) million in the previous year. The EBIT reached a figure of EUR 0.29 million (first half of 2015: EUR (2.28) million). The reasons for the excellent half-yearly results were strong turnover in licences and a major increase in efficiency in the consulting and implementation areas.

Based on these results and the sales opportunities for the second half of the year, the Management Board continues to assume that the company will be able to significantly increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year if business goes well; and it is maintaining its forecast for the year 2016 and the medium-term without making any changes.

The full half-yearly report will probably be published on 30 August.

GERRY WEBER International AG has decided to implement the SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK application in approximately 1,000 GERRY WEBER and HALLHUBER stores in 18 countries. The roll-out of this new POS solution forms part of a wider project to transition the company’s central systems to SAP Fashion Management.

GERRY WEBER International AG is the latest in a line of leading international fashion companies to select the SAP POS solution by GK Software. During the project, which forms part of an extensive modernization program based on SAP solutions, SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK will completely replace the point-of-sale software currently used in all GERRY WEBER and HALLHUBER stores. This will provide GERRY WEBER with a standardized and scalable solution that is seamlessly integrated in the central SAP systems, while also adding new functionalities to the existing business processes within both retail formats. Michel Feurich, CIO of GERRY WEBER, sums up the reasoning behind the decision as follows: “We were looking for a standard solution that would enable us to respond very rapidly to market developments and changing customer behavior. At the same time, by utilizing a homogeneous, technologically leading solution that could be integrated into our new SAP world, we wanted to gain the long-term certainty of being well equipped to cope with the future challenges in a competitive landscape.”

Developed by market leader GK Software, SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK is a completely new and innovative software solution that draws on the company’s 25-plus years of expertise in store-level systems. First of all, the new solution is being adapted in line with the specific needs of the GERRY WEBER and HALLHUBER retail formats. The solution will then be rolled out step by step in all 18 countries in which the company has its own stores. GK Software is handling the implementation itself and all country-specific requirements will be integrated into a single version of the solution. When the project is complete, all GERRY WEBER stores around the world will use the same software, leading to a sustainable reduction in operating costs, maintenance costs and development costs.

About the GERRY WEBER Group

GERRY WEBER International AG, headquartered in Halle/Westphalia, operates on a global scale and unites four strong fashion brands under one roof: GERRY WEBER, TAIFUN, SAMOON by GERRY WEBER and HALLHUBER. The SDAX-listed GERRY WEBER Group generated sales revenues of EUR 920.8 million (financial year 2014/2015). Since its beginning in 1973 GERRY WEBER International AG has become one of the most famous and successful German fashion and lifestyle companies with nearly 1,270 company-managed stores and sales spaces (incl. 275 from HALLHUBER), more than 2,500 shop-in-shops and 270 franchised stores worldwide as well as brand online-shops in nine countries. The company is constantly expanding its position as a global player with some 7,000 employees (including approximately 1,500 from HALLHUBER) worldwide and distribution channels in more than 60 countries, and is one of the largest listed fashion companies in Germany. The Managing Board consists of CEO Ralf Weber, responsible for Wholesale and Corporate Development, Dr. David Frink, responsible for Finance, Logistics, IT, Administration, Production and Human Resources Management as well as Norbert Steinke, responsible for the Retail and Licensing segments.

SAP is now able to offer its customers a central omni-channel pricing engine. The heart of this new software solution is the pricing engine developed by GK Software AG. This has been further developed jointly with SAP to form a central component in the SAP infrastructure for omni-channel applications.

• Pricing engine from GK Software becomes part of the SAP software portfolio
• Calculating prices centrally is an important element for cross-industry omni-channel solutions

GK Software and SAP have signed an agreement covering the integration of the Central Pricing Engine, which GK Software has continued to develop in close cooperation with SAP, in the range of software solutions offered by SAP. As part of the agreement, the GK price-finding component will be directly embedded in cross-industry solutions sold by SAP. Shortly after the agreement was signed, one of the top 50 global retailers opted for the software component developed by GK.

The Central Pricing Engine is a high-performance component for centrally calculating very many shopping baskets in stores, in web shops or on consumers' mobile devices. The scalable central software enables the calculation of a very large number of parallel sales promotion rules at the same time. The Central Pricing Engine guarantees unified prices across all the channels within an all-round omni-channel approach, the consistent use of as many sales promotions and loyalty actions as the company wishes and precise figures for refunds. It therefore forms one key component in all-round omni-channel concepts.

The Management Board believes that the agreement provides confirmation of its plans for the 2016 financial year and it is standing by its forecast, which was published in the statement on the 1st quarter, without making any changes.

The second quarter of the year was very successful for GK Software AG. The company's ability to attract three new well-known customers played a major role in this process and provided evidence of the efficiency and variability of the new OmniPOS core product.

• Successful licencing business in the first six months of the year
• An outstanding start to sales of the new OmniPOS software solution

The OmniPOS solution, which is a completely new development, was only officially launched at the leading trade fairs in New York and Düsseldorf at the beginning of the year. Backed by additional momentum from existing customers, it was therefore possible to achieve the target figures for the company's licencing business during the first half of the year. The new customers are active in the fashion, luxury goods and DIY sectors and together operate more than 1,600 stores in about 40 different countries. The Management Board is confident that further projects may be gained during the third and fourth quarters of the year. It is therefore standing by its forecast without any changes, as published in the statement on the first quarter.

The company is planning to publish its report for the first half of the year on 30 August 2016.

The Management Board at GK Software AG would like to make known that the corporate group's turnover grew by 40.3 percent to EUR 62.60 million (EUR 44.63 million in 2014) during the 2015 business year, according to preliminary figures.

• Strong license business drives the growth in turnover
• EBITDA exceeds previous year's figure by EUR 2.1 million

Two thirds of this increase, for which the licensing business was largely responsible during the reporting period, was achieved through organic growth. The EBITDA was EUR 2.18 million, following a figure of EUR 0.04 million in the previous year. The Group recorded an EBIT of EUR (1.28) million, largely due to the scheduled amortisation in connection with its US acquisition (previous year: EUR (3.02) million).

GK Software AG will probably publish its final figures in the form of its financial statement on 29 April 2016.

At EuroCIS in Düsseldorf GK Software is launching OmniPOS for the very first time. This completely new and innovative solution opens up new possibilities for retailers to optimally meet their customers’ needs across all sales channels. OmniPOS is entirely new software that has been developed in close collaboration with SAP and is the only solution in the world that can also be used in an SAP HANA environment. Thanks to the seamless combination with SAP’s world-leading back-end and e-commerce solutions (hybris), this offers retailers an omni-commerce platform that is unrivalled internationally in terms of its wide range of functionalities.

OmniPOS – Completely new and highly flexible omni-commerce solution

OmniPOS is a completely new solution that is seamlessly integrated into both the GK/Retail Business Suite and the world of SAP. It has been designed to achieve 100 percent alignment with the expectations of today’s consumers and enables retailers to optimally meet their needs, everywhere and at all times. The innovative architecture ensures that all omni-channel processes can be performed in any location and on any device. Furthermore, depending on the specific application, a wide variety of POS set-ups can be achieved – and the POS can even be integrated as a service in other solutions. Central components such as price calculation are also available as services for all other sales channels. At EuroCIS, OmniPOS is being presented in several different scenarios including as a classic stationary point of sale, in various mobile thin-client set-ups (e.g. for clienteling), and as a payment extension for SAP hybris.

Michael Jaszczyk, CTO of GK Software, comments: “OmniPOS is not just another new POS system. Instead, it’s a springboard into a whole new world. We have freed it from any ties to hardware by making it a fully open system. The role of POS may be changing, but the functionality will definitely continue to be required in the future. That’s why we have designed OmniPOS so that its functionalities can be used in every channel, on any type of hardware or in the cloud, in countless set-ups. Therefore, the solution also forms a hub for the individual sales channels. It’s based on our 25-plus years of know-how and experience as the leading innovator in our field.”

• Multi-channel services safeguard process consistency

  OmniPOS has been designed with a firm focus on making centralized functionalities available across all channels. This enables core processes to be utilized without redundancy and with a consistent quality – in stores, in the webshop and/or on smartphones.

• Faster time-to-market thanks to app enablement

  App enablement allows new functionalities to be added very quickly, without the need for any changes to the POS software. The stand-alone apps react to relevant occurrences at the point of sale and enhance POS functionality in real time, such as by providing recommendations or supplementary loss-prevention functionality.

• Seamless integration of e-commerce in the store

  The certified hybris extension allows in-store sales employees to directly access the webshop and seamlessly transfer the contents of the virtual shopping cart to the POS.

End-to-end real-time connection – mobile store-level ERP

A further highlight at the EuroCIS trade fair are GK Software’s ERP solutions. These revolve around the Mobile Merchandise Management mobile store-level ERP solution which is available for Android, Windows and iOS. Providing an end-to-end connection, this forms the link between all store-related processes and the central ERP system. As the world’s only fully SAP-integrated solution, this is also directly available as a SAP product. Label & Poster Print is an optimal extension. Thanks to direct connectivity with the central ERP system, this solution fully automates the entire price labeling process, both for printed labels and electronic shelf labels (ESLs), as well as the printing of posters.

Debut for other new solutions: Self-scanning, Pick&Pay and Transaction+

GK Software is also demonstrating the following new advancements at EuroCIS for the first time:

• Self-scanning: The new self-scanning solution is available for use both with dedicated self-scanning devices (PSAs) and with consumers’ smartphones via the Customer Engagement app.

• Pick&Pay: The mobile solution for click & collect orders enables store employees to pick the relevant goods from stock and prepare them for collection by the customer in advance.

• Transaction+: The market-leading solution from GK Software’s US subsidiary company enables secure EMV-certified handling of transactions with all common payment cards in the USA using flexible acquirer routing, which enables considerable cost savings.

At this year’s EuroCIS, Europe’s leading trade fair for retail technology, GK Software is presenting its entire portfolio and – as in previous years – is looking forward to welcoming a large number of visitors to its booth. The company’s subsidiary AWEK as well as partner company valuephone are also exhibiting in the direct vicinity of the GK Software booth.

The Lebensmittel Zeitung (German retail industry newspaper) reported yesterday that ALDI Nord has decided to use the POS and store solution, which is developed by GK Software and sold by SAP, and that an SAP partner will handle the implementation work.

The Management Board at GK Software is delighted that another of the world's leading 50 retailers will be relying on the leading international solutions developed by the company and it views the step as confirmation of its plans for 2016. As a result, there will be no change to the forecast for this business year or the medium-term forecast for the next few years.

GK Software has been able to continue its successful international expansion programme during this business year and gain two more projects.

• Significant follow-up order in Canada
• First new customer in Mexico

A leading Canadian retailer has opted for another product from the GK Software portfolio sold by SAP. As part of a major follow-up order, the mobile merchandise management software will be introduced in more than one thousand stores. A leading department store and boutique operator in Mexico has decided to purchase the POS solution and will equip more than 1,300 stationary and mobile tills with the new software. The project was gained through a local partner and it will handle the implementation work.

As a result, GK Software AG has already been able to gain thirteen new projects this year, four of them in North and Central America. The Management Board believes that this endorses its strategy of internationalization and it is continuing to stand by its forecast for the 2015 business year without making any changes.

Two major companies in the USA opted to use GK Software solutions during the first quarter of 2015. These firms operate in the fashion/sports and specialist retail sectors. This will involve equipping approx. 3,200 stores with solutions from GK Software in future. 

• Two major companies opt for GK Software solutions in the USA

The license revenues will form part of the planned goals for the 2015 business year. The Management Board is therefore standing by its forecast to further enhance turnover and improve profitability at the same time.