FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Personnel services provider Amadeus Fire failed to meet its earnings forecast last year due to a wave of illness in the final quarter. Earnings before interest, taxes and goodwill amortization adjusted for special effects did increase by 2.4 percent to 68 million euros in 2022 and thus reached a high, as the company announced in Frankfurt on Wednesday on the basis of preliminary figures. However, the SDax-listed provider had recently set its sights on an operating profit of at least 70 million euros. According to the group, a Germany-wide, exceptionally strong wave of illnesses burdened the personnel services division, which consequently cost more than three million euros in sales and earnings. Sales for the year as a whole rose by 9.3 percent to just over 407 million euros. Amadeus Fire will present detailed annual figures and the forecast for the current year on March 21./men/mis