STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - IT service provider GFT Technologies is taking a more pessimistic view of the current year due to the difficult economic environment. However, the specialist in digitalization for banks and insurance companies continues to expect double-digit growth. As some analysts had already expected a forecast reduction, this only had a negative impact on the stock market at the start of trading. Most recently, the share, which had been under strong pressure in the course of the year so far, was clearly up.

In terms of revenue, GFT is now only targeting an increase of between eleven and twelve percent to € 810 to 820 million. Previously, the company had expected an increase of 16 percent to 850 million. Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) adjusted for special effects will be between € 74 million and € 76 million (2022: € 86 million), the SDax-listed company announced in Stuttgart on Thursday. Previously, GFT Technologies had expected an increase to €80 million.

The annual targets also take into account, pro rata temporis, the acquisition of Targens GmbH, which GFT bought from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) on April 1. At the end of June, GFT employed just over 9,000 full-time staff - two percent more than at the end of 2022. The company develops solutions based on new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. In the first half of the year, sales increased by ten percent to just under 392 million euros. Operating profit increased by four percent to 31.2 million euros.

"Growth was largely driven by complex modernization and transformation projects in the financial industry," said Group CEO Marika Lulay. "We continue to grow faster than the market despite a volatile environment." Thanks to its broad regional positioning, GFT was able to cushion the slowdown in investment in Brazil, the company's largest market, very well. "Our medium-term growth drivers, including our project pipeline, remain fully intact. Especially in the areas of cloud and artificial intelligence, customer demand is picking up noticeably."

The figures were in line with experts' expectations. In addition, the average estimate of analysts covered by Bloomberg for revenue and operating profit was recently already in the range of the lowered targets anyway. On the stock exchange, the lower forecast therefore only caused brief losses. After falling by up to almost four percent to its lowest level in around two years, the share turned positive; most recently, the stock gained over seven percent to just under 26.50 euros.

However, since the multi-year high of 49 euros reached in the summer of 2022, the share price has slumped by almost half, having risen strongly in the preceding months. Following the slump in the crash at the start of the Corona pandemic in the spring of 2020, the share price had risen by almost 800 percent by the summer of last year - since then, the air has been out. Currently, the company, in which its founder Ulrich Dietz still holds around 30 percent, according to data from the Bloomberg news agency, is worth around 670 million euros on the stock market./zb/jcf/mis