In the third quarter, Bechtle's growth fell short of expectations, as the IT service provider announced today. The business volume increased by a moderate 6 percent, but the revenue, taking into account the accounting rules, only recorded a slight increase of 1 percent. This equates to revenue of 1.479 billion Euros, while analysts had predicted a much higher amount of 1.557 billion Euros.

The pre-tax result could still be increased by 6.4 percent to 93.9 million euros. Yet, the expectations of analysts for an increase to 95 million euros were not met. The pre-tax margin improved from 6.0 percent in the previous year to now 6.3 percent. Meanwhile, the order intake of the largest German IT system house saw a strong increase of 18.3 percent in the third quarter.

The operating cash flow was also able to increase in the first nine months of the year 2023 to €190.2 million - a remarkable result compared to the previous year with a deficit of €230.7 million. Bechtle is confident about business development and confirms its own expectations for the full year. It is expected that revenues and results will continue to rise significantly and the margin will remain at around the level of the previous year.

At the stock exchange, the effects of these figures are evident: Bechtle shares record a decrease of 5.08 percent to 43.14 euros during XETRA trading. Nonetheless, the company remains confident in its ability to meet its annual forecast.