Key facts and figures:
- Fabrity Holding maintained growth momentum in operating revenues above 30% last year, and the sale of two companies from the marketing segment (K2 Create and K2 Precise) enables the distribution of additional funds to shareholders.
- This year’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Panda Group expands Fabrity Holding’s capabilities into e-commerce solutions, in line with strategic goals and highlighting the possibility of further acquisitions of companies with complimentary specializations.
- Trends in the development of artificial intelligence and low-code platforms are reflected in the offerings of Fabrity Holding.
The technological group Fabrity Holding, excluding the marketing segment companies K2 Precise and K2 Create that were sold at the end of September last year, recorded a 28.7% year-on-year increase in service sales revenue in 2023, reaching PLN 68.7 million. Key operating revenues (excluding re-invoicing and purchases of services from entities outside the Holding) jumped by 34.2% to PLN 62.4 million. EBITDA rose by 13.7% year-on-year to PLN 8.6 million, and operating profit increased by 28.8% year-on-year to PLN 6.4 million.
“It was a very successful and busy year at Fabrity Holding, rich in significant events. The development of cooperation with the EU agency Frontex, projects with ABB, and other key clients resulted in a record year in the history of our subsidiary Fabrity. This is particularly noteworthy as the entire IT services industry was experiencing challenging times. The implementation of a new version of the chatbot based on AI technology was a breakthrough for PerfectBot. The year 2023 also had an epochal dimension for us, related to the sale of the marketing companies and the K2 brand, which were the core business in the past, followed by a group name change and a clarification of the Holding’s purely technological profile. This is the result of the successful mission of Paweł Wujec, from whom I took over the helm of the entire Group,” says Tomasz Burczyński, president of the management board of Fabrity Holding S.A. since November 2023 and CEO of Fabrity Software House.
“We have clearly demonstrated that we can grow in the long term at a double-digit rate and execute IT projects for large, stable clients in Poland and abroad, particularly in German-speaking and Scandinavian countries,” adds Burczyński.
Fabrity Holding generated PLN 14.0 million in net profit in 2023, aided by recording PLN 9.9 million in profit from the transaction of selling two companies in the marketing segment (K2 Precise and K2 Create).
“This is the second-highest net profit in our history, after the result in 2022 when we completed the transaction of selling the cloud company Oktawave. Transactions combined with good results from current operations allow for exceptionally high transfers to shareholders. The dividend paid out in the last two years amounts to PLN 12.4 per share. We are already preparing a buyback of Fabrity Holding’s own shares for PLN 7.7 million and anticipate recommending a dividend, which means that approximately PLN 15 million could be distributed to shareholders in 2024. Thanks to the high dynamics of growth in repeatable operational business and activity in the M&A area, we see opportunities to create significant value for shareholders in the coming periods,” emphasizes Artur Piątek, vice president of the management board of Fabrity Holding S.A.
Fabrity Holding monitors customer expectations regarding the implementation of IT solutions that can support the development of new products and services while reducing operational costs. As a result, the importance of digital transformation and using it to building competitive advantages is growing. Here, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and low-code/no-code solutions play a significant role.
“Data security, quality, and outcome control have hindered many AI implementations in large enterprises. A breakthrough might be the Azure OpenAI platform, whose market tests we are currently conducting. Meanwhile, the Perfectbot chatbot is based on the innovative GPT engine. In the area of platforms for easily building less-advanced business applications, our subsidiary Fabrity owns a low-code solution with the new commercial name Fastive, which has been implemented for clients for several years. Fabrity is also a longtime partner of Microsoft and Nintex, offering implementation services and development of solutions based on these providers’ low-code platforms,” says Burczyński.
The sale of two companies in the marketing segment in autumn 2023 resulted in a cash inflow to Fabrity Holding. Shareholders can thus expect an additional profit transfer. The General Meeting has already decided on a buyback of the Holding’s own shares at PLN 40 each, totaling PLN 7.7 million. The management also declared the possibility of paying an increased dividend from the 2023 profit, which, combined with the planned share buyback, could total about PLN 15 million in cash transfers to shareholders.
In February this year, Fabrity Software House, a subsidiary of Fabrity Holding, acquired a controlling stake in Panda Group, a company offering e-commerce solutions. This was the first transaction of the Fabrity Holding as the buying party. Previously, Holding gained transactional experience as a seller, which is why Fabrity Holding now operates exclusively in the technological segment: IT services and solutions. Fabrity Holding plans to continue seeking growth opportunities through acquisitions, and the Holding is interested in companies from the IT services and solutions industry that can positively influence the expansion of business and technological competencies or the expansion of the customer base in selected markets. These plans are consistent with the strategy Fabrity Holding is preparing for 2024–2026, which is scheduled to be presented in the first half of this year.
