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For the second half of 2018, the management board expects a continuation of the turnover growth and a significant increase of the profitability, because excellent sales opportunities exist and catch-up effects are expected. According to the good positioning on the market is the valuation of SAP Omnichannel Point-of-Sale by GK as leading product of POS-solutions by Forrester Research (Source: The Forrester Wave: Point of Service, Q3 2018). This also corresponds with the acquisition of two new customers in the USA after the end of the second quarter, after a major customer in this world's largest retail market, Hy-Vee, had already opted for OmniPOS in the first quarter.
Based on the results achieved, the existing distribution potential and the significant improved efficiency in the US-business, the management board continues to assume that the turnover will increase as expected for the remaining business year. It is continuing to stand by its forecast for the year 2018 and its medium-term forecast as published in the financial statement for the year 2017 without making any changes.
The report for the first six months of the year will probably be published on 30 August.
On the basis of these results and the sales opportunities for the remainder of this financial year, the Board continues to assume that the Company will be able to further increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year. This expectation is based on the sales opportunities that are being processed and on work that has been performed during the past nine months, but has not yet been entered as turnover; nevertheless, the conditions for this will exist during the 4th quarter. The Board is standing by its short-term forecast for earnings in 2018, but would point out that meeting it will depend on achieving individual sales success stories during the current financial year. The medium-term forecast up to 2020 is being maintained without any change.
The nine-month report was published today at the following addresses:
German: https://investor.gk-software.com/de/veroeffentlichungen/financial-reports?task=download&cid=646
English: https://investor.gk-software.com/de/veroeffentlichungen/financial-reports?task=download&cid=647
The latter has been developing market-leading solutions for mobile customer loyalty since 2006, with about 35 employees most recently, and several large customers make use of them. The solutions provided by valuephone GmbH have already been sold by GK Software SE since the beginning of 2017. SAP has also been making them directly available using the "Hybris Mobile Consumer Assistant by GK" name since 2017. One major international retailer decided just at the beginning of 2018 to deploy the solution in several countries in southern Africa. The valuephone software is already seamlessly integrated within the GK range of solutions and its support structures. By completely taking over the company, GK Software acquires the complete rights and can strengthen its expertise in the field of mobile consumer apps and the associated cloud background solutions. At the same time, the GK portfolio of products for the retail sector is complemented by this important area for modern store solutions.
valuephone GmbH generated turnover of approx. EUR 2.2 million in 2017. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price in the low single-digit millions. The Management Board at GK Software SE is only expecting low integration costs because of the long-standing, close partnership with valuephone GmbH and the fact that the software is already fully embedded in the GK range of solutions. In the light of the valuephone results from the previous year, the Management Board does not believe that it is necessary to adjust its forecast for 2018 or its medium-term forecast.
Turnover increased by 17.0 percent to a figure of EUR 90.45 million (EUR 77.33 million in the previous year). It was therefore possible to almost meet the target for this key performance indicator early; this had not been expected until 2018 in the previous medium-term forecast. In terms of the EBIT, the stabilisation process from the previous two years continued to be consolidated. EBIT therefore grew even more strongly than turnover during the past financial year and reached a figure of EUR 4.9 million. The increase was 23.6 percent compared to the previous year.
The Management Board is very happy with these results, as, viewing things generally, it was possible to exceed the results from the previous year even more significantly. For one thing, the company was able to register its first significant software-as-a-service turnover (SaaS) in 2017; this success was achieved earlier than expected as a result of the “cloud4retail” cloud strategy. Success was obtained in 2017 despite certain factors opposing this process. In addition to the transition phase towards SaaS, there were special effects primarily from the transformation of the company into an SE, the issue of a convertible bond and the acquisition of prudsys AG. As it was possible to almost meet the goals of the forecast set until 2018 through the results that have been achieved, a new medium-term forecast until 2020 will be published with the coming financial report.
This positive development also continued during the first quarter of 2018 and several important sales success stories have already been registered. Gaining a significant project in the USA is particularly important in this process, as it will create a new reference in this important market. As part of this project, GK Software will put more than 6,000 new installations into productive service. In addition, one of GK Software’s very important existing customers has signed a contract to switch to the OmniPOS system. The Management Board is expecting other existing customers as well as new ones to opt for OmniPOS during the current financial year.
Based on the preliminary results for 2017, a well-filled sales pipeline and the competitive strength of the OmniPOS cloud solution, the Management Board is confident that the Company will be able to continue to grow.
The complete financial report from GK Software will probably be published on 26 April 2018.
The new legal form has no effect on ownership, shareholders, contractual partners or customers. The previous two-tier board structure consisting of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board remains unchanged. The headquarters of GK Software SE is still located in Schöneck and the stock remains listed on the present stock exchanges.
GK Software is attending the EuroCIS to present new solutions and innovative concepts, as it does every year. The European market leader is demonstrating its new cloud service known as cloud4retail and solutions for personalisation and dynamic pricing, which are based on AI (artificial intelligence), for the first time. Customers can also expect innovations like the Mobile Customer Assistant, the Virtual Reality Store as well as integrated new solution concepts for the catering sector and gas stations.
The software solutions provided by GK are designed from the outset to be used both in classic in-store scenarios and also as a cloud solution. The new cloud4retail solution is being introduced at Düsseldorf for the first time and it can be used in retail companies of all sizes. cloud4retail ensures that a leading enterprise POS solution is available in a cloud as a full-service facility for the first time. When using the SaaS solution, retailers are able to massively reduce the operating costs for their own hardware and their own personnel. GK Software handles the complete operations and maintenance and enables retailers to use one of the world’s leading solutions, even with a low level of their own technical footprint.
As genuine omni-channel solutions are established to an even stronger extent, the question arises as to how they can be combined with value-adding new processes like personalisation. The prerequisite for appealing to customers in as individual and precise a manner as possible involves the use of AI, which can calculate the suitable offer for each individual customer from huge amounts of data in real time. GK Software is presenting one of the international leading solutions in the field of omni-channel personalisation at the EuroCIS with its “Realtime Decisioning Enginge” (rde) and is showing how personalised services can be handled on different devices in real time.
The Dynamic Pricing module is also a new feature of the GK Software portfolio; it is based on AI and real-time assessments. The solution is capable of calculating the best possible price for millions of products, depending on different parameters. The real-time solution is able to handle context-based dynamic pricing – i.e. the prices are adapted to the current customer behaviour and the constantly changing market situation, including competitors’ prices, fully automatically. As a result, the best possible prices for each retail channel can be determined based on the forecast price acceptance by consumers.
The GK Mobile Customer Assistant, which is also sold by SAP, enables GK Software to offer retailers an all-in-one solution for the smartphones of their digitally-minded consumers. The mobile white label solution is not only able to handle processes related to infotainment, coupons and promotions, digital stamp cards and mobile payments. It also acts as a reader for self-scanning as part of BYOD scenarios. This enables companies to introduce modern customer services in isolation or in conjunction with industrial devices in an integrated mobile customer app at the highest level.
GK Virtual Reality Store demonstrates the multiple opportunities presented by the open architecture of OmniPOS. Consumers can walk through the store in two virtual shops (fashion and food) with the help of VR glasses, access product information, put products in their shopping basket, then pay in different ways and either have the goods delivered or they can pick them up themselves. Exactly the same cloud-based services are used here as for all the other channels – i.e. price finding, promotions, customer information etc. are identical to those in the web store, in the physical store or on a smartphone. The Virtual Store therefore extends the range of services and also shows the opportunities available in the cloud and service-based OmniPOS solution.
30 percent; the figure for the first quarter of 2017 was EUR 20.12 million. This development was primarily achieved by a large rise in the company’s software development business and an increase in maintenance turnover. Although the first quarter was still characterised by a low contribution from the licence business, as is normal at this time of the year, EBITDA at EUR 1.0 million were significantly higher than the previous year’s figure of EUR (0.48) million. EBIT too at EUR 0.17 million exceeded the previous year’s figure of EUR (1.47) million to a substantial degree.
Based on these results and the sales opportunities for the rest of the financial year, the Management Board continues to expect the company to be able to increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year in line with expectations; and it is standing by its forecast for the year 2017 and the medium term, as published in the financial statement for 2016.
The Q1 statement will probably be published on 30 May.
Turnover rose by one quarter to EUR 44.10 million (2016 H1 = EUR 35.08 million), according to provisional figures. Powered by strong growth in the licence business during the 2nd quarter, it was possible to more than double the EBITDA figure (without any currency effects) to EUR 5.29 million (previous year: EUR 2.31 million); this represented an EBITDA margin on turnover of 12.0 percent. EBIT too significantly exceeded the figures from the previous year (EUR 0.31) and therefore created an EBIT margin on turnover of 8.1 percent.
Based on the results achieved and the sales potential for the remainder of the financial year, the Management Board continues to assume that the company will be able to increase its turnover in comparison with the previous year in line with expectations; it is continuing to stand by its forecast for the year 2017 and its medium-term forecast as published in the financial statement for the year 2016 without making any changes.
The report for the first six months of the year will probably be published on 30 August.
Raleigh, NC – January 10, 2017 – GK Software today announced the U.S. launch of its highly successful Mobile Customer Engagement platform. With over 10,000 stores and 5 million consumers already connected to the platform worldwide, GK Software now offers North American retailers the benefits of incorporating the platform’s business-critical capabilities into their omni-channel strategy.
The GK Mobile Customer Engagement platform turns shoppers’ smartphones into a retailer’s ally by bringing a wealth of consumer-friendly capabilities to a retailer’s established Android or iOS mobile application. The simplicity of connecting the application to the retailer’s POS, ERP, CRM and other enterprise systems delivers rapid ROI with minimal business disruption.
The Mobile Customer Engagement platform’s white-label capabilities include:
“GK Software is excited to bring our comprehensive suite of mobile capabilities to the U.S. retail market,” said Michael Jaszczyk, CEO, GK Software USA. “Engaging customers in-store via smartphones is a business-critical component of omni-channel retailing. Retailers can now empower consumers in new and exciting ways, while maintaining complete control through easy integration with their enterprise infrastructure.”
GK Software will demonstrate the Mobile Customer Engagement platform, along with its portfolio of point of sale, mobile POS and store/back-office solutions, at booth #1853 of the NRF Big Show, January 15-17, 2017. SAP will also demonstrate GK’s Mobile Customer Engagement as part of the complete customer journey at booth # 1921.
The takeover of the spin-off from Chemnitz University of Technology is a further component in the consistent, unified commercial strategy at GK Software. As a result, the opportunities within the GK range of solutions for cross-channel, personalised customer contact have been considerably enhanced. The prudsys solutions is a leading product on the international market and the company is listed in the Gartner Market Guide for Digital Personalization Engines as a “representative vendor”.
In addition to integrating the prudsys solution, GK Software is expecting the takeover to generate an inflow of expertise for the ongoing automation of processes in the retail sector. After all, the trend towards preparing or making more and more decisions on the basis of self-learning systems is now irreversible. Intelligent corporate software will therefore increasingly be based on AI and machine learning. This will introduce changes to many areas in processes in the retail sector – ranging from planning product ranges to dynamic pricing and even issues like the automated, optimised deployment of personnel.
prudsys AG, which has largely focused on the e-commerce sector so far, offers a market-leading solution for the following three fields of application: recommendations, market automation and dynamic pricing. The Realtime Decisioning Engine (prudsys RDE), which has been developed in-house at prudsys, forms the basis for handling these issues; it incorporates artificial intelligence and is based on a large number of innovative, mathematical processes – e.g. reinforcement learning or real-time scoring. The algorithms and methods used by the prudsys RDE can be flexibly used to handle a wide variety of requirements in the retail sector. The USPs of the prudsys software include a self-learning, real-time solution, which analyses customer behaviour every second and immediately responds to any changes. To match GK Software’s product strategy, the prudsys solution is cloud-based, internationalised and is available as software-as-a-service.
Personalisation has no longer just been an issue for e-commerce as part of omni-channel concepts for some time. After all, consumers expect individualised offers at each touch point – and they need to be precisely tailored to their needs, whether at a web shop, on a mobile device or at the point of sale. GK Software is closing this circle by integrating the prudsys solution and can offer consistent personalisation and end-to-end interaction with consumers on all the channels. One example of this is the integration of prudsys RDE as an app in GK Software’s POS solution – this has been already demonstrated at recent trade fairs. As a result, it is possible to offer consumers consistent recommendations in real time and on all channels – ranging from web shops to smartphones and “advice tablets” and even tills. Individualised coupons, which can be directly sent to customer smartphones via the GK Mobile Customer Assistant solution, are another scenario for deployment.
The prudsys products are centred on the prudsys RDE, which enables retailers to handle innovative real-time scenarios that are perfectly tailored to the retail sector. The software with its modular structure offers three major components: 1. The self-learning Recommendation Engine enables personalised customer contact via all the sales channels. However, it does not just issue individual product recommendations, but also personalised content of any type – ranging from banners to editorial content and even photos and videos. 2. The Marketing Automation component is used, among other things, to draw up forecasts of individual customer shopping behaviour by including the latest behaviour information and master data. This provides answers to the questions about which marketing tool suits a particular customer or who will probably respond to a particular offer. The practical applications for this system include the issue of individual incentives at the online shop to prevent people cancelling their shopping basket or the automated selection of the suitable target group for a planned advertising campaign. 3. The Dynamic Pricing tool handles the best possible price finding system in real time for millions of products. The prices are adapted to the customer’s behaviour and the constantly changing market and company situation completely automatically. Prices are calculated both for the store and the web shop based on the forecast price acceptance of consumers – and the prices of competitors are included as an important factor too.
prudsys AG is a leading provider of omni-channel personalisation in the retail sector. The prudsys RDE enables companies to maximise customer value along every channel in real time. The company, which was founded in 1998, is a pioneer in the field of real-time personalisation and has been actively shaping the development of online shopping from the outset. By closely dovetailing recommendations, marketing automation and dynamic pricing, the prudsys RDE offers a unique shopping experience in more than 200 online shops. prudsys AG has several patents and has been maintaining close ties with renowned academic institutes for many years. The company is a member of the DMG and OMG standardisation committees and therefore has a direct influence on the development of the guidelines for intelligent data analysis. Customers of prudsys include leading retailers like babywalz, bonprix, Conrad, Coop, Douglas, Klingel, Otto, Obi, SportScheck, Thalia or Würth.
The Retail Innovators