changing conditions Annual Report 2014 Annual Report 2014 Equipped for the things to come 006 007 Contents umdasch doka umdasch Facts, group group shopfitting Figures group and Data 010 Foreword 024 Foreword 110 Foreword 152 General Information 015 Key data 016 Dynamogram Europe 116 Fashion & Lifestyle 155 Consolidation Range 030 Central Europe 126 Food & Care 156 Consolidated Balance 038 Western Europe 134 Premium & Travel Retail Sheet 048 Southern Europe 144 viBIZ 158 Consolidated Income 052 Eastern Europe Statement 148 Marketing & 159 Consolidated Statement Overseas Umdasch Shop Academy of Cash Flows 062 North America 160 Accounting and Evaluation 066 Latin America Methods 072 Africa 166 Development of 076 Middle East Non-current Assets 084 East Asia & Pacific 168 Auditors’ Report 092 Sales & Marketing 170 Umdasch worldwide 098 Engineering, R&D 173 Imprint 102 Production & Operations umdasch 008 group 009 D IL FA M IR ANDREAS J. LUDWIG CEO Umdasch Group G S N I U R N A N E Y L C S T Y O D R U M O Y L C Let’s talk about the weather Have you noticed that the weather is becoming increasingly unpre- dictable? We are faced with winters that are suddenly interrupted by warm spells which make the trees start to turn green; summers in which we spend our time longing for even a small patch of blue sky; uncontrolled wind storms; or long periods of fine weather without the slightest prospect of rain. The weather is a good synonym for the environ- Now, we can complain unceasingly, retreat into ment in which the economy currently finds itself our cosy own four walls whenever the weather – and in which it is very likely to continue to find gets bad and just wait for things to improve. Or itself in future, too. Volatile, unpredictable, char- we can equip ourselves sensibly, put on a warm acterised by rapid swings between highs and lows coat – and remember to grab our umbrella. Then – increasingly, that is the global climate in which adverse conditions will not represent a problem, companies find themselves operating. but rather a huge opportunity. umdasch 010 group 011 Geschäftsbereich Bereichsname Lagebericht 2014 Foreword Let us make one thing clear at the outset: although it became ing capital in comparison to 2013 by a further € 61 million, thereby quite windy on several occasions during 2014, we have managed creating an increase in cashflow of more than € 55 million. This to achieve a very good result. All the important key data and meant that we have once again managed to improve our capital the operating result have developed in a most gratifying manner. structure noticeably. And especially the Doka Group has expanded within the market. We found ourselves with a tailwind especially during the second The most important task of a CEO is to determine the strategic half-year because of the noticeable weakening of the euro. This fact development of a company and to lead it in the chosen direction. is clearly visible in the annual surplus. During the past year the Umdasch Group has been able to put a number of very important milestones in place. The second important task of a CEO is risk management. With our equity base of almost 60%, our risk-bearing ability is extremely We were able to improve our performance noticeably in several high. Nonetheless the return on equity must exceed the cost of areas within the company. In order to achieve this, firstly we capital in order to ensure that the business risk is worthwhile. To worked away at our structures – for example by merging Doka achieve a positive value spread is thus not just something which Industrie with Doka GmbH, thereby reducing or removing duplica- is nice to have, but also serves as the benchmark for our business tion of work and problems with interfaces. And then secondly we activities. have examined all our processes and procedures with regard to efficiency and customer-orientation and have made any necessary You must have noticed: 2014 was therefore a year marked by adjustments. In this way we have simplified the innovation process; “action”. We devoted all our energy to implementing the strategy Andreas J. Ludwig (CEO) we have reorganised areas like Marketing, Product Management in both business areas. During the past decade the organisation has and Business Development and have implemented our customer grown strongly as a result of internationalisation. At the same time demands management and systematic project controlling. our environment has also increased in complexity in every respect. However, a company must not introduce still more complexity to ”Changing Conditions” – that was the idea which inspired One of the important aspects of this – not least for our result – deal with this development, but rather – on the contrary – it must was that as during the previous year we directed our focus on an simplify things. Being competitive means acting faster, more flexi- us while we were developing the Annual Report for 2014. optimised inventory management. The Doka Group in particular bly and more powerfully than the competition. During the past year Why? Because this motto summarises what has affected us needs good tools, continuous monitoring and precise controlling in we have mustered a great deal of power and resources in order to this respect in view of its capital-intensive rental model: valued at become more efficient in our structures, processes and procedures. during the past year: change. market prices it means that up to three billion euro are permanently With success, because we were able to improve our productivity to in circulation. In this way we have succeeded in reducing our work- a considerable degree. umdasch 012 group 013 Geschäftsbereich Bereichsname Lagebericht 2014 Foreword Sto RMY PATCHES For the company the flexibility this measure afforded was -es THE DOKA MARKETS: SUNNY as planned. On the other hand, the good news is that we have sential, in order to further improve our stocks and subsequently been able to increase our customers and orders considerably. During the past year we have not hesitated to tackle critical areas our equity structure. I should like to take this opportunity of From the point of view of the market, the year went well. This The operating reviews after page 110 prove this. as well. These were primarily topics related to the policy affecting looking ahead to 2015: During the first quarter we succeeded in was mostly due to the Doka Group, which continues to focus our locations, and they were discussed highly controversially introducing a model for flexible working time in our production on internationalisation. That is basically a model for success, The retail sector continues to be characterised by strong tur- both in Amstetten and throughout Austria and in some cases even section. This allows us to build up a contingent of hours on a because the likelihood of all markets being hit by a recession at bulence. The shopfitting sector also feels the effects, because beyond the borders. provision account during times of high workload, which can the same time is almost negligible. In particular during the fourth during 2014 many investments were postponed or cancelled. then be reduced during periods of lower production volume. quarter of last year our business increased disproportionately – The Fashion & Lifestyle sector in particular is suffering from this Why? Because we raised questions which aim in the long term to By means of this model, in future employees will be able to completely contrary to the cycle prevailing within the sector, in fact. The Premium & Travel Retail Division gives us cause for secure our location in Austria as a production location and train- reduce their hours while their income remains the same during fact. It just proves how incalculable and unpredictable our macro- pleasure. It is still a young unit, but it is characterised by suc- ing centre for the best brains. It goes without saying that we did phases in which the markets can be served from stocks. This environment actually is – also in a positive way. cessful projects for customers and profitable growth. The latest not always encounter a broad consensus of agreement. Despite all agreement enables us to take a big step towards the Smart acquisition among our shopfitters is called “viBIZ”. It is still the discussions in the media and in the public domain, however, Factory. The ability of the Doka Group to face up to the world’s most a small division but it is tackling a major trend in the retail we were very successful in one thing: we succeeded in persuad- challenging engineering tasks, linked with highly sophisticated sector, namely the linking of bricks-and-mortar retailing ing our employees at the location concerned, and we were able to Within the Umdasch Shopfitting Group the starting situation formwork systems and a widely ramified international sales and with the online world. arouse in them a basic understanding for the fact that Amstetten was a very different one, but nonetheless here, too, at the end logistics organisation, are important guarantors for the success of must adapt its attitude and its operating methods to fit in with the of the year it proved necessary to introduce measures which our customers. The structural programme introduced within the Umdasch world – and not vice versa. had a direct effect on our employees. As was to be expected, Shopfitting Group back in 2013 is being systematically pursued. the agreement which we encountered from the staff on the This is a recipe which is also reflected in the figures: in spite of The company’s overriding target for 2015 is to achieve the turn- We were helped in this by a large-scale communications campaign subject of introducing increased flexibility with regard to work- restrained construction activity the Doka Group was able to in- around.