Vectron Systems AG (Vectron), a leading provider of intelligent, digitised POS systems comprising hardware, software and cloud services, specialising in the hospitality and bakery sector, generated a significant year-on-year increase in sales in the first quarter, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As already published in the ad-hoc release of 17.03.2020, the COVID-19 virus poses great challenges for the entire gastronomy sector and thus for Vectron's target customers. After an excellent start to the first quarter of 2020 in January and February, demand slumped considerably as from the end of February due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vectron nevertheless managed to increase sales to EUR 7.5 million, a rise corresponding to around 27% year-on-year, in the first quarter. 

The company placed a capital increase in February. This raised a gross amount of about EUR 11.0 million and once again considerably improved the company's strong balance sheet, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This capital measure incurred one-off costs of EUR 412,000, which placed an additional burden on profit in the first quarter. Including all one-off costs, earnings before taxes increased from around EUR -1.0 million to approximately EUR -0.8 million.

Vectron also started to extensively market its new digital business model, Duratec Digital World (DDW), in the first quarter. A total of EUR 1.3 million was invested in developing the new business model in the first three months of the year. 

This shows that Vectron continued to generate positive figures in its core business. Without the unexpected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales and profit in the first quarter of 2020 would have been considerably better again from the company's perspective. 

Unlike many of its competitors, the company has considerable leeway due to its strong balance sheet and great liquidity. 

"We are convinced that an up-to-date product portfolio and strong digital business will be crucial for the company's success in every conceivable future scenario," comments Thomas Stümmler, CEO of Vectron. Despite working hours having been reduced for employees in some units (currently a cut of around 26%), employees working on development and digital business models remain at full capacity. However, the focus here is solely on the completion of products and services that will be ready for launch within the next three months and thus will be able to contribute significantly to sales and profit in the current year. It makes absolute sense to implement these short-term projects with great speed - in every conceivable scenario. 

After this the company will decide, depending on business performance, how to proceed with long-term projects and product developments. Overall, Vectron is confident that it will emerge from the crisis stronger and with an improved competitive position.


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 Vectron a market leader within the hospitality and bakery industries in German-speaking countries and in Benelux. Several hundred specialist trade partners distribute the products internationally. Digitale Cloud Services are offered under the brand names myVectron and bonVito. The spectrum ranges from loyalty and payment functions to online reservations and online reporting. All the services are directly connected to the POS system. More information available at



Contact:
Vectron Systems AG
Tobias Meister
Willy-Brandt-Weg 41
48155 Münster, Germany
phone +49 (0) 2983 908121
mobile +49 (0) 170 2939080
fax +49 (0)251 2856-560