Bechtle AG continued to move forward on its successful growth path in the second quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. The business volume increased by 9.2 per cent to €1,815.6 million. Revenue increased by 6.5 per cent to €1,509.9 million. Earnings before taxes (EBT) also performed well, increasing by 5.9 per cent to 93.8 million. The EBT margin was 6.2 per cent, exactly on par with the previous year. As of 30 June 2023, Bechtle had 14,505 employees, 1,306 more than in the prior year.
The good performance at group level was again driven by the IT System House & Managed Services segment. In the IT E-Commerce segment, on the other hand, Bechtle felt the saturation of many customers who had invested heavily in conventional IT infrastructure, such as PCs, in recent years. “The reference figures from the prior year were very challenging especially in terms of the revenue, but also with regard to the earnings. The fact that we achieved substantial growth and were able to keep our high prior-year margin stable despite difficult economic framework conditions sends a strong signal,” says Dr Thomas Olemotz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bechtle AG.
Demand for Digitisation Projects Remains High
In the IT System House & Managed Services segment, revenue climbed by 13.7 per cent to €985.0 million. As in the prior quarter, this performance was mainly driven by the sales achieved with public-sector clients and large customers. Moreover, the demand for complex digitisation projects for the transformation of IT architectures remained high. In this way, we managed to more than compensate the higher cost base in this segment. EBIT increased by 18.3 per cent to €63.8million. The EBIT margin improved from 6.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
E-Commerce Feels Weak PC Demand
The revenue in the IT E-Commerce segment dropped by 4.8 per cent. Especially medium-sized customers are postponing upcoming renewals in their conventional IT infrastructure. In this area, the great uncertainty among customers with regard to future macroeconomic performance is having a detrimental effect on investment. The budgets are rather spent on complex IT projects, which benefits the other segment to a greater degree. Against this backdrop and due to the higher cost base, EBIT declined by 9.9 per cent, and the EBIT margin amounted to 6.2 per cent (prior year: 6.5 per cent).
Systematic Recruitment
As of 30 June, the number of employees increased by 9.9 per cent. About 35per cent of the new colleagues joined Bechtle by way of acquisitions. Without acquisitions, the headcount increase would have amounted to 6.5 per cent. Bechtle continues to recruit personnel in a highly systematic and target-oriented manner. The central objective is to find enough suitable applicants in order to secure future growth despite the shortage of qualified staff.
Operating Cash Flow Further Improved
In the first half of the year, the cash flow from operating activities stood at €65.0 million, a level much higher than that of the prior year (prior year: €-202.4million). Significant improvements were achieved especially with regard to the inventories, but also with regard to the trade receivables. At €202.0million, the total liquidity remains at a very comfortable level that enables the financing of further organic growth and acquisitions.
Forecast Confirmed
The growth rates of the revenue and earnings in the first six months were in line with our expectations for 2023 as a whole. Assuming an improvement of the mood among medium-sized companies, we expect the demand to gradually go up in the second half of the year. Therefore, we confirm the forecast we had published in March. In the year as a whole, we intend to increase our revenue and earnings significantly and to keep the margin more or less at the prior-year level. “Of course, we at Bechtle notice the difficult framework conditions and the associated uncertainties. At the same time, however, the need for digital transformation of IT architectures is still on hand, underlining the importance of IT investments for many of our customers. Thus, despite the tense mood that currently prevails, there is no reason for us to change our optimistic outlook on the second half of the year and on 2023 as a whole,” says DrThomas Olemotz.
