Neckarsulm, 14 May 2013 – In the first quarter of 2013, Bechtle AG generated revenues of €514.0 million, an increase of 5.4 per cent. Apart from the domestic system houses, the European e-commerce companies also made a disproportionately high contribution to the revenue growth. At €14.5 million, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were 16.0 per cent lower than in the prior year. This figure was greatly impacted by the substantial headcount increase in the financial year 2012. As of 31 March 2013, the group had a total of 5,959 employees, 375 more than in the corresponding prior-year quarter.
“Following an outstanding fourth quarter of 2012, we are satisfied with the revenue performance in the seasonally rather restrained first quarter. We have reached our goal to grow faster than the market. However, we are not satisfied with the earnings positions, though I am confident that it will improve in the remaining part of the year”, explains Dr. Thomas Olemotz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bechtle AG.
German System Houses with Significant Revenue Growth.
In the first quarter, the IT system house & managed services segment generated revenues of €341.4 million (prior year: €321.6 million), a growth of 6.2 per cent. The domestic system houses went up 7.2 per cent to €295.7 million (prior year: €275.7 million). The revenues of the system houses abroad amounted to €45.7 million, almost the same as in the prior year (€45.9 million). In the first quarter of 2013, EBIT dropped 30.9 per cent to €7.4 million (prior year: €10.7 million). The EBIT margin thus amounted to 2.2 per cent, compared to 3.3 per cent in the prior year. This development mainly resulted from the significant headcount increase in the prior year.
IT E-Commerce Strong Abroad.
In the reporting period, the IT e-commerce segment pushed up its revenues 3.9 per cent from €166.0 million to €172.5 million. Domestic revenues underwent a slight decline of 1.3 per cent from €51.5 million to €50.8 million. In contrast, the European e-commerce companies reported a disproportionately high growth of 6.3 per cent to €121.7 million (prior year: €114.5 million). EBIT amounted to €7.1 million, an increase of 8.5 per cent over the prior year (€6.5 million). The margin climbed from 3.9 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
Comfortable Liquidity.
As of 31 March, cash and cash equivalents including time deposits and securities amounted to a comfortable €151.4 million. Thus, the total liquidity exceeded the total financial liabilities by €82.9 million. As of the balance sheet date, the equity increased to €469.2 million. The equity ratio improved from 54.4 per cent to an outstanding 58.4 per cent.
Headcount Growth in Germany.
As of the reporting date 31 March 2013, the Bechtle Group had a total of 5,959 employees, including 404 trainees. While the number represents a slight drop compared to 31 December 2012 (5,970 employees), it constitutes a year-on-year increase of 375 (31 March 2012: 5,584 employees). The increase was caused mainly by the domestic system houses, whose number of employees increased 10.2 per cent to 4,102 (31 March 2012: 3,723). In total, 4,558 persons or more than three quarters of the workforce were employed in Germany. Currently, the training ratio in Germany is 8.1 per cent.
Annual Forecast Confirmed.
As previously, Bechtle expects the revenues in 2013 to outperform the market. As far as the earnings before taxes are concerned, Bechtle holds fast to its communicated goal of reaching or exceeding the prior-year value. “The performance of the first quarter motivates all of us to use the remaining months to reach our ambitious targets for the year”, says Dr. Thomas Olemotz.
Bechtle KPIs for the First Quarter of 2013.