9-month figures clouded by the corona pandemic – new incoming orders give cause for confidence

Business development

In the automotive industry in particular, the corona crisis was noticeable very early on, and in the automotive market, which has been characterized by uncertainty for months, sometimes completely halted the placing of orders. NorCom’ s business areas were affected accordingly early on. This slump, which was already evident in the figures in the second quarter, also shaped the figures in the third quarter.

In the current situation, it has not yet been possible to compensate for the loss of orders: Generating new business has hardly been possible in recent months. The economic situation is still characterized by uncertainties and companies are hesitant to make new investments. The public area is an exception. NorCom’ s customers in this area proved to be crisis-proof. In the past few months, the collaboration has continued without any problems or with only minor restrictions.

Strategy & implementation

NorCom has taken extensive measures to react to the changed market conditions. Internally, all expenditures were put to the test as part of a cost-cutting program and any potential savings were used immediately.

In sales, there was a concentration on public customers, who are a stabilizing factor in business during the crisis. NorCom has participated in several public tenders in the last few months and has so far won two new customers:

In November NorCom was awarded a contract for a tender from the Hessian Central Office for Data Processing. The contract relates to services from NorCom for HZD in ​​MS SQL Services and will initially run for two years with two options for renewals.

Also, in November, NorCom was awarded the contract for a project at the Bundesrechnungshof (Federal Audit Office) called “Dafit”. Here NorCom advises and supports the Federal Audit Office on the topics of data management, data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI), which are implemented in four sub-projects. The current framework agreement runs for two years and the expected total volume is in the mid six-digit range.

A central measure in the third quarter was the merger of the two software products EAGLE and DaSense to DaSense2020. By merging the two products, development can be bundled in a meaningful way. NorCom is creating a modern AI platform that combines data management with data analysis in a new way. NorCom is thus offering an attractive cross-sector and cross-topic product that enables further diversification. The aim is to enter industries that are currently facing digitization. NorCom currently sees potential in this area, particularly in the insurance, real estate and lawyers / auditors sectors.

Outlook

“In the fourth quarter, the focus is on the marketing of DaSense2020,” explains Viggo Nordbakk, Managing Director at NorCom. "The aim here is to win joint projects with pilot customers or to acquire new customers together with a specialized partner to develop branch-specific products based on DaSense2020. We have already started the first projects in the new areas."

Even if the first successes of the strategic measures have been achieved, NorCom expects sales of € 10.6 million, which are lower than in the previous year (€ 11.9 million). The EBITDA is with € 0.1 million expected lower than last year (€ 1.9 million). Further information on this year’s annual general meeting of NorCom Information Technology GmbH & Co. KGaA can be found at www.norcom.de/…