ESSEN (dpa-AFX) - IT security services provider Secunet Security Networks has lowered its profit forecast due to higher costs and a lower revenue share from profitable licenses. In addition, Secunet is cautious about the coming year. Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) are now expected to fall by just over ten percent to around 42 million euros in 2023, the SDax-listed group announced surprisingly on Friday afternoon in Essen. Previously, Secunet Security Networks had expected an increase to 50 million euros.

The group was somewhat more optimistic about its earnings. This is now expected to rise to "at least" 375 million euros. Previously, only an increase to this amount had been held out as a prospect. However, investors apparently only focused on the profit statements: Secunet's share price plummeted to its lowest level since the spring of 2020.

In the end, the share price fell by almost 29 percent to 130.60 euros. Secunet shares had climbed as high as 608 euros in the fall of 2021 in the wake of hopes for a continuation of the boom, which was partly due to the home office trend in the Corona pandemic. After that, however, it was mostly downhill. With Friday's decline, the stock slid by about a third this year, having already fallen by about half in 2022.

In the meantime, the company is once again worth just over 900 million euros on the stock exchange - at its peak it was worth almost four billion euros. The company's largest shareholder, with a stake of 75 percent, is the Munich-based company Giesecke+Devrient, which prints banknotes or produces cash cards for central banks, among other things.

Secunet justified the reduced profit target with a changed product mix with deviating margins, consisting of a higher share with merchandise and a lower share with licenses and services. "In addition, the implementation of future-oriented projects, in particular investments in personnel and the product portfolio, will lead to an increase in the cost base." The Executive Board expects these effects to impact the coming year in equal measure.

"Planning for 2024 has not yet been finalized, however, the Executive Board currently assumes that earnings magnitudes could be at similar levels," the statement said. In the first nine months, sales increased by twelve percent to 239 million euros. Operating profit fell by almost 60 percent to just under ten million euros. The company will publish further key figures as planned on November 9./zb/he