DGAP-News

Gigaset AG publishes report for the third quarter and first nine months of 2020: 14% increase in revenue in the third quarter - Seite 2

"I'm pleased to say that our liquidity is higher year over year despite the challenging overall situation. That demonstrates clearly that the prompt cost-cutting and optimization measures we initiated have had a good impact," says Thomas Schuchardt, CFO of Gigaset AG. "We took countermeasures in good time, while catch-up effects in the third quarter also bolstered our revenue, with the result that we returned to profitability. We will, however, continue to focus intensively on cash management in view of the continuing crisis and the fact that it is now taking a turn for the worse again.

We believe that our flexible management makes us well-equipped to benefit from potential changes, such as increasing digitization. We assume that working from a home office and remotely as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis will lead to a large-scale redesign and adjustment of the IT and telecommunications structures both at work and home. We can and aim to capture a slice of that market."

Rapid response to the coronavirus
As soon as the coronavirus crisis broke out, the company undertook three core measures and has maintained them to date. Their aim is to protect the company and its employees and to safeguard Gigaset's existence as a going concern.

Liquidity and cash management was intensified in order to ensure the company's financial stabilization and flexibilization. The company further expanded its e-commerce commitment as a result of the partial closure of many retail stores in Europe due to the coronavirus. That is also reflected in the proportion of online sales, which rose by 135% in the first nine months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. In order to protect employees and ensure its ability to deliver, the company was also quick to implement hygiene measures in line with the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute and the German government.

Performance by business segments
The Phones segment turned in a particularly positive performance, growing its revenue by around 30% year over year. Although revenue in the first nine months of 2020 was €100.6 million and so a total of 8.6% down on the previous year (€110.1 million), revenue for the quarter rose by €10.3 million to €44.0 million or by 30% year on year.