To the shareholders
Managing Board (l.to r.): Dr. Gottfried Greschner (CEO), Dr. Jürgen Greschner (CSO), Matthias Kühn (COO), Jennifer Bodenseh (CFO)
The fact that we were able to achieve record incoming orders of almost EUR 180m, underlines just how future-proof our numerous innovative products are. The structure of incoming orders reveals a new and encouraging trend: We can see that our group is increasingly translating incoming orders into short-term revenues. This makes us less dependent on the individual large-scale projects and the revenue potential is increased.
Orders in the area of electromobility are becoming increasingly important. In response to this, init has developed eMOBILE. The integrated software product suite combines all processes from planning of duty rosters and blocks, depot and charging management through to range monitoring and prediction as well as consumption analysis. For our partner KEOLIS, we installed eMOBILE in two of Europe’s largest e-bus fleets. These lighthouse projects give us a decisive advantage in this future area, both in the European and US markets.
eMOBILE is part of our nextGen innovation campaign which we will present at the leading trade fair, IT-TRANS from 10 to 12 May 2022 in Karlsruhe and which will enable our customers to take a big step forward in their digital transformation process. Our innovative solution MOBILEguide for passenger guidance and information on real-time occupancy rates raises the bar considerably in this regard. The patented process calculates the current occupancy of the cars, taking into account the boarding and alighting estimates for the next stop. The information is available not only via the app but can also be displayed on the platforms. This allows passengers to choose services and trains with lower occupancy levels. Thanks to optimised boarding and alighting times, it also reduces waiting times at stations. Existing infrastructure can therefore be used more efficiently which makes it an attractive business proposition.
As a major player in the transformation of mobility, our technology supports public transport companies with the implementation of this transformation. Numerous digitalisation projects are in the planning stages or have already been initiated. Important components in these initiatives are mobility platforms which combine different types of travel and various mobility providers. Other components include flexible cashless payment systems, convenient on-demand transport offerings and the use of artificial intelligence in the automation of processes, for example disruption management. One of the many advantages of our systems is greater IT security and this is an issue that transport companies in particular must address due to its importance for any functioning society.
The demand for cloud-capable systems will increase in the future and in fact, many of our solutions already work cloud-based. We are currently setting up a Ticketing-as-a-Service-Cloud for Germany. This will enable public transport companies to offer their customers convenient bank and credit card ticketing without incurring high initial costs. This is an important innovation for the German market and one which we consider to be highly promising.
The potential here is evidenced by the development of our subsidiary HanseCom, which has doubled its revenues in just a few years and whose customers include almost all large as well as medium sized and small public transport companies and networks in German speaking countries. HanseCom is also on the verge of a breakthrough internationally with its mobile ticketing solutions, for example with the first US project in Spokane.
This brief summary has hopefully demonstrated that our business continues to be buoyed by the sustainable growth trend. This is expected to result in an increasing number of tenders for digitalisation projects in the public transport sector, for which, as the international leading provider of integrated solutions for planning, dispatching, telematics and ticketing for buses and trains, we are well prepared.
However, it is impossible to determine how severely our plans and our customers’ financial situation will be impacted by the consequences of the confrontation between Russia and western democracies. As in the past year, we therefore approach the current year with cautious planning. The past financial year proves that the course we have taken was and remains the right one. And if the situation returns to normal, we will once again be able to exploit our organic growth potential to the full extent.
We ask you, our shareholders, to continue to place your trust in us!
Sincerely yours,
For the Managing Board
Dr. Jürgen Greschner
init innovation in traffc systems SE