During this year’s edition of the largest meeting of individual investors in Poland, the WallStreet Conference, organised by the Association of Individual Investors (SII), AB Group was one of the active issuers.

Grzegorz Ochędzan, member of the Board and CFO at AB S.A., took part in a discussion panel titled “The changing trends, risks and expectations – opportunities and challenges standing before IT equipment distributors from the Warsaw Stock Exchange” on behalf of Andrzej Przybyło, Chairman of the Board. The panel attracted many participants of the conference, additionally it was broadcast live by Bankier.tv.

“The future of the IT market is bright, since the development of technology is still ongoing, new products are created all the time, and the manufacturers will surprise us more than once in the future. The saying ‘go big, go niche or get out’ is very accurate in the industry. The AB Group has chosen the first way, and became a first choice distributor for the largest companies in the world, as well as for smaller partners. We have the largest network of trading partners in the region (over 16000) and the largest retail franchise network (with 1600 POS), the broadest portfolio of readily available products (96 000 indexes) and the most effective organisation (lowest SG&A expenses), coupled with logistics 2.0 infrastructure. Nowadays, it is not enough to have a good on-line application, you also need to have a state-of-the-art distribution centre, ready for the revolution in the e-commerce industry”, said Grzegorz Ochędzan to the participants of the conference.

Thus, AB Group has all the attributes to remain an undisputed market leader in the future by anticipating the future situation and using its current market position.

“Currently, the e-commerce sector in Poland is responsible for 3.3% of all retail sales. In Europe, the market share amounts to 12-13%, with Poland and Czech Republic being the fastest growing e-commerce markets. As a result, in the upcoming years we are expecting an increase in the overall value of the e-commerce market by at least 50 billion PLN in Poland alone. The market will change, and having a market share today does not guarantee having it in the future. Thanks to our new Distribution Centre in Magnice, designed for e-commerce, the AB Group is ready for the future challenges”, Grzegorz Ochędzan added.

Grzegorz Ochędzan was also a guest of the Inwestorzy.tv Internet television.

“The fact that some of our competitors boast a growth in sales of up to even 80% year-to-year in foreign markets means almost nothing. These markets are small, the competitive position is weak and the base is insignificant. The majority of the new business initiatives of our competitors are ultimately futile. As a result, their revenues are falling 20-30% year-to-year, and the profits are virtually non-existent [The profits of AB Group amounted to over 12 million PLN – Ed.], while the AB Group is not only the leader in Poland and Czech Republic, but also a part of the European leadership – in a different league. We are consistently implementing our development strategy, we are strong and financially stable. What is more important for the investors, our stocks are undervalued and they have large potential for growth”, said Grzegorz Ochędzan.

The investors expanded their knowledge about the company thanks to the distributed materials, such as presentations and the “AB Group in a nutshell” brochure, as well as thanks to direct discussions, which took place during the Akcjonariat Fair.

„In the past, AB S.A. was not among the most well-known companies, but this is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Predictability, stability and safety of the growth, as well as being fair towards all shareholders are some of the key distinctive features in the industry, especially noticed and appreciated by the investors who discover the investment attractiveness of the AB Group”, said Adrian Boczkowski of the P&L investor relations agency.

It is worth noting that over the course of 25 years, AB has grown from a sole proprietorship to the largest distributor of IT solutions and consumer electronics in the CEE region, as well as one of the TOP10 businesses in Europe, with annual revenues exceeding 7 billion PLN. The company office has evolved from a rented room in a workers’ housing unit for into the most innovative distribution centre in Central and Eastern Europe, with the combined area of four football fields and twice the volume of the Centennial Hall, with state-of-the-art automation, allowing for dispatching up to 120 000 shipments every day. The Distribution Centre in Magnice near Wrocław was officially opened on the 10th of May 2016. The cost of the investment amounted to 129 million PLN, 24 million of which came from the EU subsidy due to innovative nature of its design, thanks to which the facility is ready for the biggest challenges of the quickly growing e-commerce market. AB, the leading distributor of IT solutions in Poland has been winning the CRM Magazine Distributor of the Year Award for 6 subsequent years, and its subsidiary – AT Computers – being also recognised in the Czech Republic. The AB Group has also received numerous other awards, such as the Polish Champion, IT Golden Ace, Highest Quality HR, Reliable Employer, Pearls of the Polish Economy and so on. The founder and the Chairman of the Board of AB S.A – Andrzej Przybyło – won the 9th edition of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in the services category, as well as the Vector 2015 award, given by the Employers of Poland.

The WallStreet 2016 conference, organised by the Association of Individual Investors, was held in Karpacz on the 3rd-5th of June 2016. The event attracted over 1500 participants and more than 100 publicly traded companies, as well as numerous journalists. The conference featured lectures, panel discussions regarding the current situation on the stock market, economic debates, as well as meetings of investors, capital market experts and the representatives of publicly traded companies.