EQS-News

adesso increases revenue by 26 % to EUR 1.14 billion / Sharp increase in personnel, fixed-price projects and lower licence income weigh down EBITDA in 2023 / Operating earnings set to rise again

EQS-News: adesso SE / Key word(s): Annual Report adesso increases revenue by 26 % to EUR 1.14 billion / Sharp increase in personnel, fixed-price projects and lower licence income weigh down EBITDA in 2023 / Operating earnings set to rise again 25.03.2024 / 07:32 CET/CEST The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. adesso increases revenue by 26 % to EUR 1.14 billion / Sharp increase in personnel, fixed-price projects and lower licence income weigh down EBITDA in 2023 / Operating earnings set to rise again in 2024

In its consolidated financial statements, adesso SE has confirmed the preliminary figures for 2023 that were published by the end of February. The adesso Group saw another sharp increase in group sales in 2023, with the figure up by 26 % (of which 24 percentage points is organic) year on year to EUR 1,135.9 million (previous year: EUR 900.3 million), breaking the EUR 1 billion barrier for the first time. With strong demand for adesso’s IT services continuing unabated across all industries, expansive hiring in the first half of the year in particular led to delays in capacity utilisation, which even the sharp improvement in the second half of the year was unable to outweigh over the entire year. Slower hiring in the second half of the year brought a significant improvement in the EBITDA margin, which rose to 9.3 % from just 4.6 % in the first half of 2023. While the number of employees, converted to full-time equivalents, rose by 18 % to 9,512 at year’s end, the growth averaged over the entire year stood at 28 %, above the growth of sales. Personnel costs also rose by 32 % on the back of inflation to stand at EUR 773.2 million, and both factors, along with the weaker-than-expected licence revenue compared to the strong previous year and additional costs associated with two fixed-price projects, led to an EBITDA of EUR 80.0 million (previous year: EUR 92.9 million). In spite of the tough overall economic situation, the Executive Board takes a positive view of the prospects for further growth in the IT industry, especially for the adesso Group, as demand for digital solutions remains robust. 2024 is expected to bring further growth and, as profitability improves, an increase in the result, which would take sales to more than EUR 1.25 billion and EBITDA to between EUR 110 million and EUR 130 million. On this basis, the Executive Board is continuing the distribution policy of recent years unchanged and has proposed to increase the dividend to EUR 0.70 (previous year: EUR 0.65) per share for the financial year 2023.