DGAP-News

Bechtle Stays Locked on to Success

DGAP-News: Bechtle AG / Key word(s): Final Results/Dividend
Bechtle Stays Locked on to Success

16.03.2016 / 10:15
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Bechtle Stays Locked on to Success

- Revenue in 2015 up 9.7 per cent to EUR2,831 million

- EBT up 20.5 per cent to EUR129.4 million

- Significant dividend increase to EUR1.40

- Positive outlook for 2016

Neckarsulm, 16 March 2016 - In the fiscal year 2015, Bechtle AG has
continued the trend of further success. With its above-average growth
dynamics, the company gained further market shares and expanded its
position as Germany's largest IT system house. In the reporting period, the
revenue climbed almost 10 per cent to EUR2,831.3 million. Earnings before
taxes (EBT) even surged by more than 20 per cent to EUR129.4 million. The
EBT margin thus amounted to an outstanding 4.6 per cent. The dividend is to
be stepped up for the sixth year in a row, increasing to EUR1.40 (prior
year: EUR1.20).

The positive development of the fiscal year 2015 was largely organic. The
two segments IT system house & managed services and IT e-commerce both
contributed to the growth in almost equal parts. "The balanced growth shows
that we are aligned correctly: We have further strengthened our trading
business through investments in the staff and the determined expansion of
our Global IT Alliance, while at the same time effectively positioning our
system houses as solution-oriented partners for IT projects, especially in
the fields of digitalisation, cloud, mobility, IT security and sourcing",
explains Dr. Thomas Olemotz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bechtle AG.

Partner for Future-proof IT Architectures
In the IT system house & managed services segment, the revenue climbed to
EUR1,889.5 million, 9.4 per cent more than in the prior year (EUR1,727.1
million). Especially through its long-standing competence in managed
services and the expansion of the solution business in connection with the
transformation of IT architectures, Bechtle has further increased its
service share in this segment. Thus, EBIT grew by a disproportionately high
rate of 16.5 per cent to EUR80.3 million (prior year: EUR68.9 million). The
EBIT margin improved from 4.0 per cent to 4.2 per cent.


Worldwide Presence through International Alliance
In 2015, the IT e-commerce segment underwent two-digit growth of 10.4 per
cent, increasing its revenue to EUR941.8 million (prior year: EUR853.4
million). The growth was especially vigorous in the companies abroad, which
recorded an increase of 12.4 per cent to EUR687.7 million (prior year: