EQS-News: KPS meets the 2023/2024 forecast and maintains its position with an expanded customer base in a challenging market environment

KPS meets the 2023/2024 forecast and maintains its position with an expanded customer base in a challenging market environment

• KPS achieves revenue of €145.4 million in a challenging retail market environment.
• Adjusted EBITDA at €13.0 million, while unadjusted EBITDA amounts to €6.0 million, reflecting extraordinary effects from the insolvencies of KaDeWe/Signa in Germany and The Body Shop in England, as well as the associated restructuring costs.
• Adjusted EBIT at €6.1 million, while unadjusted EBIT is minus €17.8 million. This includes both the EBITDA-relevant extraordinary effects from insolvencies and restructuring costs, as well as a non-cash goodwill impairment from past acquisitions.
• Thanks to strategical adjustments in response to the challenging retail landscape, the number of new customers increased by 25% compared to the previous year.
• KPS is well positioned for the 2024/2025 financial year, with a solid financial foundation and a consistent focus on efficiency improvements and cost management despite ongoing challenging market conditions, particularly in the German retail sector.

Unterföhring/Munich, January 31, 2025 – KPS AG (WKN: A1A6V4 / ISIN: DE000A1A6V48), a leading consulting partner for digital transformation in the retail sector (B2C & B2B), specializing in Digital Strategy, Digital Customer Interaction, and Digital Enterprise, has announced its results for the 2023/2024 financial year. This year, KPS celebrates its 25th anniversary and continues to thrive in an exceptionally challenging market environment for companies in the retail & consumer goods sector. Thanks to its focus on internationalization, innovation, and industrialization in consulting, KPS has successfully maintained its strong market position.

Over the past financial year, the consulting services were strategically enhanced, and the portfolio was selectively expanded with new products and partnerships. As a result of these initiatives and developments, KPS successfully increased its new customer base by 25% in the 2023/24 financial year compared to the previous year. Customer satisfaction remains consistently high, reflecting KPS’s extensive experience, exceptional quality, and dependable consulting expertise. However, ongoing uncertainty and a further decline in capital investments in the retail sector are leading to increased market fragmentation and a trend toward smaller, more segmented new business opportunities.

In the 2023/2024 financial year, KPS generated total revenue of €145.4 million, representing an 18% decline compared to the previous year. While KPS achieved revenue growth in Spain and the UK, revenues in Scandinavia, Benelux, and particularly Germany declined due to weak economic growth and restrained investment activity in the retail sector.

Despite this revenue decline, unadjusted EBITDA decreased only moderately by €1.8 million to €6.0 million (previous year: €7.8 million). Adjusted for one-time effects – primarily impairments on insolvency-related receivables from KaDeWe/Signa and The Body Shop, as well as the resulting restructuring costs totalling to €6.9 million – adjusted EBITDA amounted to €13.0 million, compared to €13.5 million in the previous year. This highlights the stability of KPS’s business model and the measurable impact of its strategically expanded portfolio.

Unadjusted EBIT was impacted by a non-cash goodwill impairment of €17.0 million from previous acquisitions, resulting in a loss of €17.8 million (previous year: profit of €0.03 million). Excluding this impairment and the aforementioned one-time effects, adjusted EBIT amounted to a positive €6.1 million – an increase of 7% compared to the adjusted amount from the previous year. Consequently, the net result after taxes shows an accounting loss of €23.4 million, compared to a loss of €1.2 million in the previous year.

KPS expects that economic challenges and political uncertainties, particularly in the European retail sector, will continue throughout the 2024/25 financial year, creating a further difficult environment in the core markets of the KPS Group. At the same time, the growing customer base establishes a solid mid-term base for future earnings growth and gives ground for cautious optimism.

In this context, the KPS Executive Board forecasts a revenue for the 2024/2025 financial year to be between €129.5 million and €151.5 million. EBITDA is expected to be in a range from €10.2 million to €14.9 million.
KPS AG

Executive Board
About KPS AG

KPS works closely with its customers to continuously accelerate digital transformation, shaping the future with a comprehensive approach. KPS delivers smart best-practice processes and outstanding customer experiences across the entire value chain – from personalized customer interactions to supply chain management, core business operations, and financial processes. Headquartered in Munich, KPS is the leading consulting partner for strategy, process, and technology in the retail and consumer goods sectors. The company leverages ready-to-use accelerator technologies and best-of-breed solutions from a strong partner network to drive implementation success. KPS has received multiple awards for its excellence, including recognition as a Hidden Champion in the "Consumer Goods & Retail" category and as a focus partner within SAP’s Diamond Initiative for the "Retail & Consumer Products" sector. www.kps.com
KPS AG
Beta-Straße 10H
85774 Unterföhring
Phone: +49 (0) 89 356 31-0
Telefax: +49 (0) 89 356 31-3300
E-mail: ir@kps.com