STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - Good business with banks and industry has brought the IT service provider GFT Technologies only a small increase in profits. For the rest of the year, CEO Marika Lulay continues to expect stronger growth. The new subsidiary Sophos Solutions from Colombia should also contribute to this. However, investors on the stock market were not very enthusiastic about the statements on Wednesday: The GFT share price fell significantly.

In the afternoon, the share was one of the biggest losers in the small-cap index SDax, falling five percent to 27.20 euros. Since its record high of 49 euros in 2022, the GFT share has lost a lot of value.

However, industry expert Andreas Wolf from analyst firm Warburg Research was not unsettled by the latest quarterly figures. They showed the expected slow start to the year, he wrote in the morning. He continues to recommend buying the share and believes that the share price is likely to rise to EUR 47.

In the first quarter, GFT's revenue rose by 13 percent year-on-year to 212.4 million euros, as the company announced in Stuttgart on Wednesday. Business growth was particularly strong in Europe, at 27 percent. This was particularly due to Germany, where GFT's revenue jumped by as much as 61 percent.

However, profit development did not keep pace with revenue growth: earnings before interest and taxes adjusted for special items (adjusted EBIT) increased by six percent to 17.2 million euros. Net profit even grew by only one percent to 10.6 million euros.

Nevertheless, GFT CEO Marika Lulay believes the company is on track to increase revenue by 15 percent this year as planned. After all, the newly acquired core banking specialist Sophos Solutions has only been included in the Group figures since February 1.

Nevertheless, Lulay made a cut to her sales target: due to a balance sheet reclassification in Brazil, revenue is only expected to reach 905 million euros instead of 920 million euros. However, the adjusted operating profit (adjusted EBIT) is expected to increase by 16% to 85 million euros as planned. For profit before taxes, the management is still targeting an increase of six percent to 72 million euros./stw/nas/he