General Meeting 2023: ORBIS SE significantly exceeds revenue expectations in fiscal year 2022

The Annual General Meeting of the Saarbrücken-based software and business consulting company ORBIS SE (ISIN DE0005228779) was held virtually again this year. The shareholders looked back on a good financial year 2022. In view of the positive business performance, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board proposed a dividend of 15 ct per share to the Annual General Meeting. This proposal was approved by the Annual General Meeting. At the Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of ORBIS SE ratified the actions of the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2022.

The Shareholders' Meeting appointed Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Reichskanzler-Müller-Strasse 25, 68165 Mannheim, Germany, as auditors and group auditors for the financial year 2023. Mr. Thomas Gard was then elected to the Supervisory Board of ORBIS SE with effect from January 1, 2024. The Supervisory Board member Mr. Peter Kraus resigned from his office with effect from December 31, 2023. Mr. Thomas Gard is one of the founders of ORBIS SE and currently the Chairman of the Management Board of ORBIS SE.

Furthermore, the shareholders approved the compensation of the Supervisory Board and also approved the compensation report and subsequently resolved to amend the Articles of Association with a view to holding a virtual Annual General Meeting. Finally, the compensation system for the members of the Executive Board was approved.

The Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Stefan Mailänder, explained the business development for the year 2022 at the Annual General Meeting:

For the year 2022, ORBIS can again look back on a financial year with a significant increase in consolidated sales. With the investments in the companies BLUE S'TEC GmbH and contrimo GmbH as well as investments in new products, the service portfolio of ORBIS was strengthened once again.

ORBIS records a 22.5% increase in sales at Group level in fiscal year 2022 compared to the previous year to € 120,537 thousand (previous year: € 98,399 thousand). The number of employees will increase by 17.0 % to 888 employees as of December 31, 2022 (previous year: 759 employees).

The operating result (EBIT) increased by 9.4 % to € 4,855 thousand (previous year: € 4,437 thousand).

The share of consolidated net income attributable to the shareholders of ORBIS SE amounts to €2,389 thousand after taxes and minority interests, which is 0.8% higher than in the previous year (previous year: €2,369 thousand).

Due to the positive cash flow from operating activities of €5,455 thousand, ORBIS has cash and cash equivalents of €15,825 thousand despite the investments in the site expansion in Saarbrücken and investments in the expansion of business operations, according to Mr. Mailänder.

Mr. Mailänder clarified that ORBIS continues to be very well positioned in fiscal year 2022 and also for the further future from the point of view of market orientation and from the point of view of financial strength.

Mr. Frank Schmelzer, member of the Management Board of ORBIS SE, then gave an overview of the operating business of the SAP and Microsoft divisions. Mr. Schmelzer emphasized that ORBIS had again succeeded in acquiring numerous new customers and projects in fiscal year 2022.
As a result of the further development of technologies in the cloud, ORBIS' customers would expect consulting beyond the boundaries of pure business applications, such as SAP ERP or MS CRM, in the future.
This offers ORBIS the opportunity to provide a cross-platform consulting offering to customers, based on ORBIS' knowledge of processes and the technologies of Microsoft and SAP, he said. Furthermore, according to Mr. Schmelzer, the topics of interoperability and artificial intelligence are becoming more and more important. The combination of sustainability, artificial intelligence and interoperability in the context of distributed business processes offers promising opportunities to drive sustainable growth. ORBIS SE is also well positioned for the future in these growing areas.

The Chairman of the Management Board of ORBIS SE, Mr. Thomas Gard, highlighted in his remarks that ORBIS was able to further expand its business in the past year.

He emphasizes that digitization is the focus for all customers. ORBIS focused on this important topic at a very early stage. With the solutions of its partners SAP and Microsoft and with its own products, ORBIS has a comprehensive offering for medium-sized companies, but also for major customers in the discrete manufacturing industry.
In this way, ORBIS can support customers in the design and automation of their processes and help them to secure their competitiveness on the market.
This know-how and the solutions from ORBIS are also an excellent basis for continuing the growth in the future. Continuous investments in innovations, in know-how and in the development of new employees despite the difficult situation on the IT labor market are indispensable for this.

Despite all the uncertainties in connection with the Ukraine crisis and the still subdued economic development, ORBIS expects sales growth in the single-digit percentage range. For fiscal year 2023, ORBIS expects EBIT to be at the previous year's level.

About ORBIS

ORBIS accompanies medium-sized companies as well as international corporations in the digitization of their business processes: from the joint development of the customer-specific Big Picture to the practical implementation in the project. The digitization and automation of business processes across the entire value chain ensure the competitiveness of our customers. The in-depth process know-how and innovative strength of our 900 employees combined with the expertise gained from more than 35 years of successful, international project work in various industries make us a competent partner in this regard. We rely on the solutions and technologies of our partners SAP and Microsoft, whose portfolios are rounded off by ORBIS solutions. Our focus is on SAP S/4HANA, Customer Engagement and the realization of the Smart Factory. On the basis of smart cloud technologies, such as Machine Learning, Cognitive Services or IoT, we promote the innovative power of our customers in the development of innovative products, services and business models. Our expertise results from over 2300 customer projects at more than 750 customers in the automotive supply industry, construction supply industry, electrical and electronics industry, mechanical and plant engineering, logistics, metal industry, consumer goods industry and retail. Long-standing customers include the ZF Group, Hörmann, Hager Group, Rittal, Andreas Stihl, BEUMER Group, NETZSCH Pumpen & Systeme, Paul Hartmann and Sick, Bystronic, Ferrum, Halter, Bruker and V-ZUG, Yanmar Marine International, Exerion Präzisionstechnik, CoreDux, Royal Avebe, Ottakringer and LiSEC.

For more information, please visit: www.orbis.de 
or contact
Dr. Sabine Stürmer, Head of Investor Relations at ORBIS SE
Tel: +49 (0)681 99 24 605, e-mail: sabine.stuermer(at)orbis.de