Bechtle AG (BC8.DE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you most warmly to today's analyst conference for the second quarter and thus for Bechtle AG's results for the first half of 2022. I'm very pleased that you have chosen to join us today. It's fair to say that the figures will present today will go nicely with today's pleasant summer weather, a sunny picture all around. However, just as the current weather goes hand-in-hand with extreme drought and the high risk of forest fires, the current economic situation also has its downsides. There are a great many risks, and there is considerable uncertainty with a view to the future. That being said, it's all the more gratifying that so far, Bechtle AG has proven to be very successful in this overall context. Just how successful, I would like to illustrate to you over the next few minutes by going over some of the developments in the second quarter. Today's presentation will once again have 4 major parts. As usual, we will start by taking a somewhat closer look at business development and the key performance indicators for the second quarter and thus for the first half of 2022. That will be followed by taking a look at our stock price development in recent weeks and months. And next, I'll then cover some strategic, qualitative and nonfinancial events that are material to the future development of the company. And at that point, as usual, I'll conclude with an outlook for the rest of the fiscal year. And at that point, of course, we will be available for you for any questions you might have. So let's begin, as announced by taking a look at our business development. The key figures for the second quarter have already been communicated with our ad hoc announcement on the 25th of July. Accordingly, you are aware that in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, we have once again been highly successful. And actually, this is quite remarkable. While the situation has improved somewhat with a view to the coronavirus pandemic, the state of the supply chain has remained a challenge. We have noticed improvements in some product categories. But so far, these do not yet apply across the board. Accordingly, our order backlog still remains high. Our order backlog and inventory levels are expected to only decrease gradually over the course of the next month, once and if the supply chain situation starts to improve in a sustainable way and across the board. We expect that the impact of these supply chain problems will, however, continue to make itself felt at least into the first half of 2023. And I'm making a point of mentioning this explicitly here because otherwise, our strong figures might leave you with the impression that there was less pressure across the board. Let us now start by looking at the development of our business volume. The growth in business volume has seen significantly more momentum in the second quarter, as you can see, if you look at the slide on your screen. After an increase of almost 8% in the first quarter, business volume rose by an outstanding 16% in the second quarter. At 15.4%, most of the growth in the second quarter, by the way, was organic. In the first half of the current fiscal year, we are thus at almost 12% growth, which takes us above the target corridor of our expectations for the full year 2022. The development of our business volume is something we like to highlight time and again at this point as it is only here that our software business is reflected to the full extent which is after all of great importance to the future strategic development of Bechtle, as you are well aware. Now this is the basis for our reported revenue in accordance with IFRS. Revenues in terms of structure have developed similarly to our business volume. The organic growth rate in the second quarter was at 13.7%. And in the first half of the year, that puts it at exactly 10%. This momentum I mentioned earlier, which developed over the first 2 quarters is also noticeable in our top line growth. Demand from our customers continues to be high. In addition, 2 major topics had a positive impact on our growth. First of all, working conditions went back to normal for our customers once coronavirus-related restrictions no longer applied. With more people returning to work in the office, IT projects that have been postponed during the work-from-home period once again became a focus. Also, the availability of some IT products in the B2B market had once again improved. This allowed us to serve some of our customers more quickly than in the previous quarters. Furthermore, an increasing number of projects that had to a certain extent, gotten stuck in our order backlog could finally be delivered. At this point, let us also look at our top line development in the different segments and regions. At segment level, we can see that the distribution of revenues is once again more balanced than it was in the previous quarter, with both units contributing to growing our revenues. The IT system house & managed services segment was able to significantly increase sales in the second quarter at 12.4%, and this is very encouraging news as this segment only gained 1.3% in the first quarter. In the first half of the year, the growth rate was thus 6.7%. In the IT e-commerce segment, we were able to further increase our revenues compared to the previous quarter at over 18%. Top line growth was at a very high level. Overall, this segment was able to grow by 17.4% in the first 6 months. Looking at developments, both in Germany and abroad, the 2 regions reflect a fairly balanced situation. The companies abroad were able to maintain the high growth rate. And after only 3% in the first quarter, the domestic companies were now able to grow very significantly in the second quarter. This, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the development of earnings, and we will begin by taking a closer look at the development of our EBIT over the quarter. EBIT growth in the first quarter was already outstanding at 21.2%. When interpreting this very high increase in earnings, however, one must take into account a negative special effect from the previous year's quarter, which has correspondingly reduced the basis of comparison. The situation in the second quarter is quite different. Here, we had positive special effects of a total of EUR 9.5 million in the previous year's quarter, and we had them catching up to do here. And the fact that we've not only succeeded in doing so, but actually managed to generate another EUR 7 million on top of the previous year's figures, which included this positive effect is really outstanding. Overall, the 2 effects roughly cancel each other out so that the growth rate of 14.1% in the first half of the year is, in fact, a fair representation of our adjusted operating performance. At this point, let us also take a look at the different segments. At first glance, the earnings development in our IT system house & managed services segment does not seem all that positive. However, the positive special effects that, as mentioned applied in the previous year had much more of an impact here and we're much more noticeable. This is why we should turn to the adjusted figures here, so as to get a realistic picture of their respective developments. For adjusted, EBIT in the systems house segment was almost 17% higher than in the previous year. In e-commerce, it was higher by 33% even. Overall, this results in an operating profit increase that is adjusted for these special effects to the tune of 22.8% for the group. There are several reasons for this extremely positive development. The high growth in revenues helped us compensate for the higher levels to which our cost base had returned after the end of the corona measures. In addition, we were able to generate more bonuses and kickbacks from our partners due to the strong development in revenues. And against our top line growth, HR expenses have not increased proportionately. In addition, we are seeing positive price effects, thanks to our inventory management and thanks to an advantageous product mix. And to conclude the analysis of our key figures as it were, let us look at our cash flow from operating activities, which was once more impacted by the prevailing supply situation in the second quarter. The cash flow from operating activities in the second quarter was at minus EUR 75 million. The reasons for this development are clear. It was mainly the trade payables that were reduced significantly as planned. Given the background of the very positive business development, especially towards the end of the quarter, there was an inevitable increase in trade receivables, and it was due to a significant outflow of funds due to the buildup of inventories in the context of the supply difficulties that were mentioned repeatedly. Nevertheless, there are some indications of a silver lining. Cash flow improved slightly in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Above all, the outflow of funds due to the buildup of inventories was no longer as high in the second quarter as it had been at the beginning of the year. So the trend is pointing in the right direction, clearly. This brings us to the topic of staff development. As of the 30th of June 2022, Bechtle had 13,199 employees. This is 6.3% or 778 more people than in the same quarter of the previous year. This is the first time that we have exceeded the threshold of 13,000 people. And given the Europe-wide shortage of skilled workers, this is a very positive sign. In addition to attracting new employees, the focus of HR activities at Bechtle has always been on education and training. For example, Bechtle continuously invests in employee certifications including in the important topics of security and multi-cloud architectures. This means that we are able to not only meet our own need for qualified professionals, we are also able to offer our employees an ideal environment for further development and to leverage their potential. This is a success factor which is not to be underestimated in our employer branding. And thus, ladies and gentlemen, let us turn to our share price development. The situation on the stock markets remained very tense also in the second quarter. Prices continued to slide across a broad front. The reasons remain unchanged. The war in Ukraine with all its economic repercussions such as energy crisis and increased inflation, the ongoing problems in global supply chains, uncertainties about the overall economic development, and not least of all, the interest rate policy of central banks. This unfortunate mix has also negatively impacted the development of the Bechtle's share price. Our share price has been under pressure since the beginning of the year with a small interim high in March around the publication of our full year figures and our positive outlook for 2022. After our ad hoc announcement on 25th July with the very positive figures for Q2, we have seen a slight upward trend again. Whether this will continue and for how long is something no one can predict, of course, especially given the still rather nervous markets. At the moment, the perception, at least, is that it is not so much [ some few ] very good news from companies that are important triggers for share price development, but rather overriding macroeconomic developments and risk expectations that dominate the capital markets. And Bechtle with its very strong figures can only breast this current, so to speak, to a limited extent. And with that, as always, let us move to what we see as the relevant nonfinancial events in the second quarter of 2022. The highlights which are now to follow can be allocated roughly to 4 important fields of action, and these comprise: our further growth within Germany, our ongoing internationalization, our activities in the education sector, and our further steps in the important area of sustainability. Let us start with an announcement that seems to be related to the current problems in the supply chain, which, however, was actually planned for a much longer term. And it is the scale-up of our logistics capacity. Bechtle AG is set to scale up its logistics capacity by opening a new warehousing site in Hamburg. There, we will settle in no less than 20,000 square meters on the upper floor of Europe's very first 2-story logistics property. Bechtle's 2 major logistics hubs in Neckarsulm and Hamburg, thus have a combined area of some 60 -- 46,000 square meters. In Hamburg, the new sites close proximity to the port will unburden road transport of IT products coming into Germany by sea. Also, the bulk of orders from customers located in the north and east of Germany will also ship via the new Bechtle hub. In this way, Bechtle is not only considerably shortening its supply chain, but also enabling a dramatic reduction of its carbon footprint. We plan to have a site set up and fully operational in the fourth quarter of the current financial year. Next, internationalization. Bechtle is taking the next step in its strategy of international acquisitions and is ramping up its market presence in the Netherlands with a further IT system house. Axez ICT Solutions will be joining Bechtle Group with its specialization in hybrid IT environments and cloud solutions. And with that, we're building up the competencies of the Dutch IT service provider PQR, which Bechtle Group acquired only in May. For 13 years, Axez has been firmly embedded in the Dutch market with a broad customer base, generating revenues in the amount of EUR 17 million in the past fiscal year. They are located near The Hague and that's the company activities center on its capabilities as a certified platinum partner of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Aruba. With its outstanding expertise and specialists in the fast-growing business with HPE GreenLake, the company is excellently positioned. Also, when it comes to public sector business, there is some news to report. A Bechtle-led consortium have completed the prototype of the technical infrastructure for a national education platform. We've already reported about this. This development is part of Germany's digital education initiative titled Initiative Digitale Bildung by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The prototype is called KOLIBRI and serves as a proof of concept for a simple and secure consolidation of all offerings across the country's education landscape on one single meta platform. Simple self-service password and account management enable learners and educators alike to organize their digital education journey. This includes access to online courses, documents related to internships, school and university courses and even job applications and professional education opportunity, and also application for student loans, known as BAFöG and proofs of semesters completed abroad. As it builds on an open-source foundation, the architecture is also easy to expand. And Germany's National Education platform initiatives can now use the KOLIBRI meta platform along with other sponsored projects to prepare the next development steps and eventual operation. And finally, let me come to a very recent piece of news under the heading of Sustainability, which we published only 2 days ago. Bechtle AG introduced its Climate Protection Strategy 2030. And here, we are laying out concrete objectives and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to achieve climate neutrality, which we define at Bechtle as net zero carbon emissions by 2030. The targets defined in the Climate Protection Strategy cover direct and indirect CO2 emissions as well as upstream and downstream value chains. The Climate Protection Strategy complements the Bechtle's Sustainability Strategy 2030 that was launched last year. And with that, we're following the three-pronged approach of avoidance, reduction and compensation. At the heart of the strategy lies the ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions across the group by 2030. And this largely through reductive measures and backed by avoiding and also offsetting emissions through certified climate protection projects. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, let us move to the outlook. Already at the beginning of my presentation, I referred to the more than tense overall economic situation. You all know about the situation, and you all know how high the uncertainties remain. Even if our figures for the first half year and our current economic performance at the beginning of the third quarter do not suggest that Bechtle is affected by the deterioration in the economic situation or that even risk scenarios have already materialized, we are still well advised to keep a close eye on further developments and to align our outlook for the coming months accordingly. This does not mean that we do not continue to be optimistic at Bechtle regarding our business in the further course of the year. However, with a view to our good figures for Q2, we won't become overly euphoric either. We, therefore, reaffirm our optimistic forecast for 2022 as a whole. With the results of the first half of the year in the books, we are more than confident that we will achieve our targets. However, increasing our forecast, which may be expected by some of you is something which in view of the current uncertainties, we consider not yet called for. And to make it very clear here, once again, this hesitancy has nothing to do with business development at Bechtle, but rather originate the risks and uncertainties regarding the macroeconomic situation in the future. And therefore, we stick to this. We want to once more substantially increase our revenue as well as our pretax profit. The EBIT margin is to remain at least at previous year's level. So we continue to be confident and optimistic for the ongoing financial year and also beyond. And with this rather optimistic outlook, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you very much for your attention so far, and I am now very much looking forward to your questions. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]