DATAGROUP SE
DGAP-News: DATAGROUP SE / Key word(s): Preliminary Results
Pliezhausen, November 26, 2018. DATAGROUP SE (WKN A0JC8S) has continued on its dynamic path of success in FY 2017/18. Once again, operating earnings grew at a disproportionate rate to revenue, today's EBITDA margin has already approached the 13 % target set for FY 2020/21. Investments in infrastructure and locations lay the foundation for further above average growth. DATAGROUP's revenue in FY 2017/18 (01.10.2017 - 30.09.2018) rose 21.9 % to EUR 272.1m (previous year EUR 223.1m). Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew disproportionately by 27.4 % to EUR 34.5m (EUR 27.0m), the EBITDA margin is 12.6 % (12.1 %). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) grew by 9.9 % and reached EUR 20.4m (EUR 18.6m). Earnings per share (EPS) increased to EUR 1.55 (1,41 Euro)[1]. "We can once more look back at a year with an extremely strong business development. In 2017/18, we have exceeded our ambitious targets yet again", said DATAGROUP CEO Max H.-H. Schaber, as he commented the preliminary results. "Both organic growth and our recent acquisitions made positive contributions to an increase in revenue and earnings. In total, DATAGROUP continues to significantly outperform the German IT market which is showing good constant growth." The overachievement of our projections made at the beginning of the year can mainly be put down to two factors: Firstly, the takeover of Almato GmbH during the fiscal year, a very profitable and rapidly growing provider of software and services for the optimization and automation of business processes. Secondly, the huge progress made in the restructuring of HanseCom, which was acquired in 2017. The latter was not profitable at the time it was acquired and has achieved very good earnings power faster than expected. At the same time, DATAGROUP Financial IT Services GmbH (formerly ikb Data), which was also acquired in 2017, contributed to gaining important long-term outsourcing contracts, which will have a noticeable effect from the next fiscal year. "In terms of operating profitability, we have almost achieved our 13 % target set for 2020/21 with an EBITDA margin of 12.6 %, said Max H.-H. Schaber. "This is no reason to rest on our laurels, in fact we are in the process of re-defining our revenue and earnings targets for the following years."
In the past fiscal year, DATAGROUP has taken strategic action in many ways to create the necessary conditions for the expected continuation of the growth course. This included investments in the infrastructure needed for the Cloud services, including the relocation of a data centre as well as the combination of the Hamburg-based offices at one shared location. DATAGROUP has also made well-directed investments in high-quality equipment at the company's other offices to offer its employees a modern and attractive working environment. "Competition for IT specialist has become noticeably tougher and is increasingly becoming a critical bottleneck for the development of the industry. According to a Bitkom study, 55k positions for IT specialists are vacant", said COO Dirk Peters. "Expenditure at the locations is part of the investment in our staff - meanwhile, we have more than 2,000 employees which are literally the most important asset of our company." Depreciation of assets without purchase price allocation increased from EUR 5.3m to EUR 10.1m. Assets had substantially increased last fiscal year because of the first-time consolidation of acquired companies and rose through the investments mentioned above. Amortization in accordance with the purchase price allocation was up from EUR 3.2m to EUR 4.0m in the year under review as a consequence of the acquisition activities. Overall, the disproportionately low increase of EBIT was due to depreciation and amortization caused by investments. Solid base for future growth in the IT outsourcing market The digitization and the associated growing complexity of IT technologies and infrastructures leads to a steadily growing demand for service providers, who are a competent partner for this process that is critical for success. DATAGROUP intends to continue the development of becoming the leading IT outsourcing company for the German Mittelstand and consistently seize the opportunities offered. To this end, the company reviews and adjusts its strategy, positioning and its service portfolio: In 2017/18, the central supply units within the existing outsourcing portfolio, SAP and Service Desk, have been further strengthened through additional consolidation. By appointing Andreas Baresel as Chief Production Officer (CPO) as of October 1, 2018, DATAGROUP has a dedicated responsible person, who will ensure that there is an optimal coordination of the centralized delivery units. Successfully implemented transformation projects have increasingly proven to be the basis for acquiring new outsourcing customers. The newly established offering "IT Transformation" is to provide a better visibility on the existing services portfolio for Cloud, platform, application and SAP transformations to address this high-growth project market in a more targeted manner. 20 new major customers were won for CORBOX in the past fiscal year, the scope of services of 14 existing customers was extended. All in all, DATAGROUP generates some 60 % of revenue with 160 outsourcing contracts and is well on track to have more than 220 CORBOX contracts by FY 2020/21.
27.11.2018 Deutsche Börse's Equity Forum in Frankfurt (5.00 p.m., room: Milan). 29.11.2018 M.M. Warburg Meet the Future Conference - Berlin 05.12.2018 Berenberg European Conference 2018 - Pennyhill Park End of January 2019 Publication of audited results for FY 2017/18 14.03.2019 Annual General Meeting at the company's headquarters in Pliezhausen About DATAGROUP: Contact: [1] Based on based on 8.349 million shares or fiscal year 2017/18, and on the weighted average number of shares of 7.940 million for fiscal year 2016/17.
26.11.2018 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. |
| Language: | English |
| Company: | DATAGROUP SE |
| Wilhelm-Schickard-Str. 7 | |
| 72124 Pliezhausen | |
| Germany | |
| Phone: | +49 (0)7127 970 000 |
| Fax: | +49 (0)7127 970 033 |
| Internet: | www.datagroup.de |
| ISIN: | DE000A0JC8S7 |
| WKN: | A0JC8S |
| Indices: | Scale 30 |
| Listed: | Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt (Scale), Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; London |
| End of News | DGAP News Service |
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