DGAP-News: Buoyed by non-recurring effects from business acquisitions, adesso SE started financial year 2022 with a strong first quarter / Sales up 29 % to EUR 209.8 million

Buoyed by non-recurring effects from business acquisitions, adesso SE started financial year 2022 with a strong first quarter / Sales up 29 % to EUR 209.8 million / Full-year guidance confirmed

* Sales up 29 % year on year to EUR 209.8 million in first quarter, 23 percentage points of which generated organically

* As in previous year, EBITDA influenced by positive non-recurring effects (Q1 2022: effect of EUR 4.6 million; effect in Q1 2021: EUR 17.0 million)

* Operating performance (adjusted for non-recurring effects): up 24 % to EUR 23.3 million; EBITDA margin 11.1 % (previous year, adjusted: EUR 18.8 million)

* Anticipated decline in reported EBITDA therefore less than forecast (-22 % to EUR 27.9 million; previous year: EUR 35.8 million)

* Full-year sales and EBITDA guidance confirmed

adesso SE today published its quarterly statement for Q1 2022, in which it largely confirmed the preliminary figures for the first quarter that had previously been released. The IT service provider is benefiting from sustained high levels of capacity utilisation and booking intensity in IT service business as well as initial licensing revenue from the in|sure Ecosphere. Sales revenues increased quarter on quarter and year on year to a new quarterly record level of EUR 209.8 million (previous year: EUR 163.2 million; Q4 2021: EUR 182.1 million), corresponding to a 29 % rise compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Around 23 percentage points of that growth were generated organically, with 6 percentage points attributable to inorganic growth from acquisitions. Germany accounted for the largest share of sales growth, at 32 %. International revenue also rose by 15 % as a result of the increasing internationalisation of the business. Dynamic, double-digit sales growth was achieved in nearly all core industries served by adesso, with only the insurance sector seeing results on a par with the previous year. The public administration and automotive industry business areas recorded particularly strong growth of 94 % and 122 % respectively. The virtual doubling of sales in public administration meant that the business area became adessos highest-revenue core industry in the first quarter, ahead of insurance.

The number of employees (expressed as full-time equivalents, or FTEs) increased by 1,191, or 23 %, year on year to stand at 6,270 as at the reporting date. The number of employees abroad increased further, by 12 %, due to the further internationalisation of adesso. Outside Germany, adesso now employs a total of 1,092 people (FTEs).

In the same quarter of the previous year, EBITDA was influenced by a strong non-recurring effect of EUR 17.0 million due to the sale of the e-Spirit Group. The company acquisitions in the first quarter of 2022 also had a positive non-recurring effect of EUR 4.6 million, primarily on account of the recognition of investment carrying amounts from the acquisition of shares in profit or loss. At 22 %, the anticipated drop in earnings compared to the value in the same quarter of the previous year, which was high due to the sale of the e-Spirit Group, was lower than expected. EBITDA stood at EUR 27.9 million in the first quarter. Adjusted for these non-recurring effects, EBITDA rose by 24 %, from EUR 18.8 million to EUR 23.3 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin fell slightly from 11.5 % to 11.1 % in the current financial year. However, the rise in sales is not fully reflected in the adjusted EBITDA, as the cost of materials (66 % to EUR 30.4 million) and other operating expenses (51 % to EUR 23.5 million), among other factors, grew disproportionately to the increase in sales. As a result of this fast growth, adesso continues to use external services. Gross profit therefore rose less sharply than sales, by 24 % to EUR 179.3 million. The rise in other operating expenses is due to the declining impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public life in the first quarter of 2022. Alongside an initial rise in travel costs, other operating expenses rose as a result of expenditure in relation to the Cultural Refit programme initiated by adesso as an investment in employee loyalty.

Personnel costs increased at a slower rate than sales, climbing by 20 % to EUR 135.2 million and having a positive impact on margins. In terms of the average number of employees on the payroll in the reporting period (full-time equivalents), personnel costs rose only slightly, by 1 %, year on year.

Reported consolidated earnings amounted to EUR 12.5 million (previous year: EUR 23.5 million), with earnings per share of EUR 1.92 (previous year: EUR 3.78). This corresponded to an adjusted increase of 23 % to EUR 7.9 million (previous year, adjusted: EUR 6.5 million) in consolidated earnings and an improvement in earnings per share of 17 % to EUR 1.22 (previous year, adjusted: EUR 1.05)

adesso succeeded in more or less matching the fast pace of growth seen in financial year 2021 in the first quarter of the new year. This reflects the digitalisation trends across nearly all industries and underlines that adesso is ideally positioned for upcoming projects. As a result, both the strong growth and the EBITDA contribution in the first quarter of 2022 exceeded expectations, says CFO Jörg Schroeder, commenting on the positive performance.

At the time of publication, the strong positive non-recurring effect on EBITDA in the first quarter of 2022 is offset by a slight change in risk expectations with regard to the general economic conditions for the rest of 2022 Even though adesso is still not directly affected, this development is mainly due to the downgrading of general economic growth forecasts. At the present time, the Executive Board is therefore standing by its original full-year guidance for 2022, even though the higher EBITDA contribution in the first quarter does set the stage for good business performance over the rest of the year.

The full quarterly statement, as well as a table comparing key performance indicators over a period of several years, is available at www.adesso-group.de in the Investor Relations section.

 

adesso Group
With about 6,300 employees and annual sales of EUR 678.3 million in 2021, adesso Group is one of the largest German IT service providers with outstanding growth opportunities. At its own locations in Germany, other locations in Europe and Turkey as well as at numerous local customers adesso offers consulting and software development services for optimising core business processes. adesso also offers ready-to-use software products for standard applications. The development of an own, industry-specific product portfolio opens up additional growth and earnings opportunities and is another key element of the adesso strategy. In 2020, adesso was awarded the title of the best employer of its size in Germany across all industries. After having already achieved first place among IT employers in 2016 and 2018, adesso was ranked first again in 2020.