K3 has hired Marco Vergani as its new chief executive officer to lead the business technology group through its next stage of development, focusing on own-IP sales and its K3|Imagine software platform.
Vergani has a background in commercial sales and extensive experience of the retail and direct-to-consumer sectors, having previously held senior roles at IBM, Digital River, and, most recently, eCommerce personalisation platform Qubit, where he was chief operating officer.
Vergani said: “I am delighted to be joining K3. The Company has developed a number of market-leading software solutions, and I believe there is a significant opportunity to sharpen its existing strategy to grow own-IP sales, and in particular the K3|imagine solution.”
Full-year results
Like many businesses, the AIM-listed cloud solutions provider saw its retail solutions sales impacted by the Covid pandemic.
For the 12 months to 30 November 2020, revenues were down from £50.1 million to £48.8 million and losses before taxation from continuing operations increased significantly to £20.9 million, compared with the loss of £1.1 million the previous year.
Tom Crawford, K3 chairman, said: “In the face of unprecedented challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, I am pleased with the resilience K3 has demonstrated. Our high level of predictable and recurring revenues, as well as our large and diverse customer base, led to robust results at a trading level.
“Implementing our strategy to focus on Own IP and Global Accounts and to cease investing in legacy POS products, we took a number of important strategic decisions in line with our growth strategy.
“These included placing the loss-making UK Dynamics unit into administration, raising additional funding and, in late February 2021, selling Starcom, our managed services unit, for £14.7 million. The Group is now in a significantly stronger financial position and is better placed to drive our Own-IP strategy.
“Following Starcom’s sale, Adalsteinn Valdimarsson stepped down as chief executive officer, and I am pleased to welcome Marco Vergani as his successor.
“Marco has a strong commercial track record, and extensive omnichannel experience. In particular, he understands digital transformation and the SaaS business model in our markets. He is well-qualified to lead K3 and drive the next stage of its development.”
Share