- Group revenue 8.6 percent higher after K-Businesscom acquisition, gross profit rises by 15.7 percent to € 245.2 million.
- Revenue in the CANCOM Group’s service business grows by 23.2 percent to € 216.6 million in the first half of the year.
- New segment reporting after acquisition of K-Businesscom.
The CANCOM Group closes the first half of 2023 with revenue growth of 8.6 percent, confirming the preliminary figures already published. At Group level, revenue amounted to € 647.0 million (previous year: € 595.5 million) and gross profit rose by 15.7 percent to € 245.2 million (previous year: € 212.0 million). “While the hardware business slowed down in the second quarter, the development in the service business in the first half of the year, on the other hand, was in line with our expectations,” said Rüdiger Rath, CEO of CANCOM SE, explaining the revenue development. “This has led to gross profit growth at Group level.”
Group EBITDA was € 41.5million (previous year: € 51.1million) due to one-off effects of € 10.2 million. The non-recurring effects arose in connection with the CANCOM Group’s efficiency and profitability programme amounting to € 5.9 million, M+A costs of € 1.2 million and projects terminated prematurely amounting to € 3.1 million. The Group EBITA in the first half of the year was € 18.9 million (previous year: € 30.9 million). “The one-off effects show that we are vigorously implementing the transformation of the CANCOM Group in all areas, which we have set out to achieve with our efficiency and profitability programme,” said Rath. “After the transformation year 2023, the CANCOM Group will benefit from tangible and sustainable savings effects of around € 15 million in 2024. We include the effects for 2023 in the forecast.”
New segment reporting after acquisition of K-Businesscom
In the wake of the acquisition of K-Businesscom, CANCOM is reintroducing segment reporting in order to increase transparency about CANCOM’s performance in its core market of Germany compared with other markets. The financial reporting now shows the segments “Germany” and “International”. The segments are structured according to the location of the companies.
In the Germany segment, which includes the German companies of the CANCOM Group as well as a subsidiary of KBC, revenue in the first half of 2023 was € 564.5 million (previous year: € 543.7 million). Gross profit amounted to € 214.0 million (previous year: € 195.3 million) and EBITDA reached € 32.4 million (previous year: € 44.5 million). EBITA was € 11.4 million (previous year: € 24.9 million).
In the International segment, revenue generated in the comparative period mainly by the CANCOM subsidiaries CANCOM a+d Solutions in Austria and CANCOM Public BV in Belgium was € 82.5 million (previous year: € 51.8 million). Gross profit was € 37.5 million (previous year: € 17.6 million). EBITDA reached € 9.2 million (previous year: € 6.6 million) and EBITA € 7.5 million (previous year: € 6.0 million). “The development in the International segment is primarily due to the contribution of K-Businesscom, which we included in the scope of consolidation on 1 June 2023”, explains Rath.
Cash flow from operating activities significantly improved
Cash flow from operating activities was € -35.6 million in Q2 2023 (previous year: € -40.0 million), continuing the announced improvement over the course of the year. In the first half of 2023, cash flow from operating activities amounted to € -79.8 million (previous year: € -126.1 million) and improved significantly. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to € 170.4 million as at 30 June 2023 (previous year: € 387.4 million) and were below the previous year’s reporting date primarily due to the payment for the acquisition of K-Businesscom, the dividend payment of € 35.4 million and the usual seasonality.
Strong development in the services business
In the CANCOM Group’s services business, which comprises Consulting, Support Services and Managed Services/XaaS, revenue rose to € 216.6 million in the first half of the year (previous year: € 175.8 million). In Consulting, revenue was € 115.6 million (previous year: € 93.6 million) and gross profit was € 91.0 million (previous year: € 74.0 million) with a gross profit margin of 78.7 percent. In Support Services, revenue in the same period reached € 34.9 million (previous year: € 24.6 million) and with gross profit of € 23.2 million (previous year: € 18.1 million), the gross profit margin was 66.6 percent. Revenues from Managed Services/XaaS grew to € 66.0 million in the first half-year (previous year: € 57.5 million) and, with gross profit of € 52.9 million (previous year: € 45.7 million), achieved a gross profit margin of 80.1 percent. In trading, revenue in the first half of the year amounted to € 430.5 million (previous year: € 419.7 million) and the gross profit of € 73.5 million (previous year: € 63.9 million) resulted in a gross profit margin of 17.1 percent.
Challenging environment expected in the second half of the year
In view of the additional costs arising from the efficiency and profitability programme and the M+A costs, as well as the difficult economic environment in the CANCOM Group’s core market, the Executive Board has adjusted the forecast for the CANCOM Group accordingly with the announcement of the preliminary figures on 1 August. The Executive Board expects the CANCOM Group to develop as follows in 2023:
| CANCOM Group |
Updated forecast 2023 |
| Revenue |
€ 1,520 to € 1,580 million |
| Gross profit |
€ 560 to € 610 million |
| EBITDA |
€ 116 to € 126 million |
| EBITA |
€ 67 to € 75 million |
The complete half-year financial report 2023 of the CANCOM Group is published on the website www.cancom.com in the Investors section.
