DGAP-News: Bechtle AG / Key word(s): Quarterly / Interim Statement/Quarter Results
10.05.2017 / 07:29
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Bechtle reports excellent start into the year
– Q1 revenue up almost 14 per cent
– EBT 16.9 per cent above prior year
– Bechtle seamlessly follows up on record year
Neckarsulm, 10 May 2017 – Bechtle AG has made a highly impressive start into the fiscal year 2017. Despite the high reference values from the prior-year quarter, the revenue climbed 13.9 per cent to EUR803.1 million. The domestic and overseas business accounted for equal portions of the revenue growth, which was evenly distributed over the two segments IT system house & managed services and IT e-commerce. In the first quarter, earnings before taxes (EBT) increased 16.9 per cent to EUR31.5 million. The EBT margin thus amounted to 3.9 per cent, an excellent figure for the first quarter. As of 31 March, Bechtle had 7,708 employees, a year-on-year increase of 6.0 per cent.
“With its impressive first quarter, Bechtle seamlessly followed up on the excellent performance of the last years. We are especially pleased to see that all business segments have contributed to the strong figures,” explains Dr. Thomas Olemotz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bechtle AG.
Growth supported by broad solutions portfolio
The revenue in the IT system house & managed services segment climbed 14.8 per cent to EUR563.3 million. The system houses in Switzerland and Austria achieved remarkable growth of 23.4 per cent. The revenue of the German system houses increased 13.5 per cent. The demand for future-oriented IT architectures at the customer site or as a service was high in all areas. Application solutions and the cloud business also continued to grow. As a consequence, EBT underwent a disproportionately high growth of 23.2 per cent to EUR22.8 million. The EBIT margin went up from 3.8 per cent to 4.0 per cent.
E-Commerce Achieves Two-Digit Growth
The revenue in the IT e-commerce segment grew 11.9 per cent to EUR239.8 million. The revenue growth amounted to 17.1 per cent in Germany and 10.1 per cent abroad. Almost all international subsidiaries contributed to this growth. In the first quarter of 2017, EBIT increased 6.8 per cent to EUR9.0 million. The EBIT margin was 3.8 per cent, a figure close to that of the prior year (3.9 per cent).
Further Headcount Increase for Future Growth
As of 31 March 2017, Bechtle had a total of 7,708 employees, a year-on-year increase of 439 persons or 6.0 per cent. The increase in the number of employees is largely the result of new recruitment. Compared to the prior year, the number of trainees went up almost 10 per cent to 479. Training remains a key focus of Bechtle’s HR work. The headcount increase is expected to continue in 2017. Currently, Bechtle has about 500 job vacancies.
Further Investments in 2017
The Executive Board confirms the forecast made for 2017 as a whole, which predicts further significant revenue and earnings growth. “The strong first quarter confirms our positive outlook on the rest of the year. At the same time, our economic strength enables us to continue to make investments in 2017 to make Bechtle future-proof and to move ahead with our strategic projects,” says Dr. Thomas Olemotz.
Bechtle KPIs for the First Quarter of 2017
Preliminary note:
Since 1 January 2017, the activities of the Comsoft companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have been allocated to the IT system house & managed services segment (previously IT e-commerce). The prior-year figures of the two segments have been adjusted accordingly.
|
|
Q1 2017 |
Q1 2016 |
+/- |
Revenue |
EURk |
803,129 |
704,905 |
+13.9% |
Domestic |
EURk |
550,163 |
482,842 |
+13.9% |
Abroad |
EURk |
252,966 |
222,063 |
+13.9% |
IT system house |
EURk |
563,326 |
490,642 |
+14.8% |
IT e-commerce |
EURk |
239,803 |
214,263 |
+11.9% |
EBIT |
EURk |
31,823 |
26,956 |
+18.1% |
IT system house |
EURk |
22,792 |
18,500 |
+23.2% |
IT e-commerce |
EURk |
9,031 |
8,456 |
+6.8% |
EBIT margin |
% |
4.0 |
3.8 |
|
EBT |
EURk |
31,475 |
26,915 |
+16.9% |
EBT margin |
% |
3.9 |
3.8 |
|
Earnings after taxes |
EURk |
22,098 |
19,115 |
+15.6% |
Earnings per share |
EUR |
1.05 |
0.91 |
+15.6% |
Cash flow from operating activities |
|
-16,954 |
-17,897 |
+5.3% |
Employees |
|
7,708 |
7,269 |
+6.0% |
|
|
31.03.2017 |
31.12.2016 |
+/- |
Liquidity1 |
EURk |
134,065 |
162,781 |
-17.6% |
Equity ratio |
% |
59.0 |
54.7 |
|
Employees |
|
7,708 |
7,667 |
+0.5% |
1 including time deposits and securities
***
The interim report for the first quarter of 2017 is available for download at bechtle.com/reports.
About Bechtle
Bechtle AG has about 70 IT system houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. With its e-commerce companies in 14 countries, Bechtle is one of Europe’s leading online IT dealers. Founded in 1983, the company is headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, and currently has around 7,700 employees. Bechtle offers its more than 73,000 customers from the fields of industry and trade, the public sector and the financial market a comprehensive, cross-vendor portfolio of IT infrastructure and IT operation solutions. Bechtle is listed in the technology index TecDAX. In 2016, the company’s revenue amounted to approximately EUR3.1 billion.
For more information, see: bechtle.com
10.05.2017 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Archive at www.dgap.de