Revenue Performance

In the fiscal year 2008, Bechtle achieved a new revenue record of 1.43 billion euros. Due to the economic decline in the course of the year, performance fell just short of the original target of 1.5 billion euros.

Revenues increased by 3.5 per cent from 1,383.5 million euros in the prior year to 1,431.5 million euros in the reporting period. Most of this growth (2.3 per cent) was organic. Apart from the newly acquired companies, the sale of TomTech as of 1 September 2008 must also be taken into consideration in connection with the acquisition-related growth in 2008.

In the reporting period, the main drivers of organic growth were primarily the domestic system houses and e-commerce companies, which increased by just over 4 per cent, respectively. Here, especially investments made in previous years in the expansion and further qualification of the sales team are noticeable. The growth was stronger during the first half of the year; from July to December, the dynamics abated.

Unchanged seasonality, strong fourth quarter

This development can also be seen from an examination of the individual quarters. The seasonality of Bechtle’s business during the year and the great significance of the fourth quarter remain unchanged. Thus, a revenue increase is still evident during the course of the year. However, the contributions of the third and fourth quarters to the annual revenue each receded by about one percentage point, while the two earlier quarters grew at a similar rate. This points to the effects of the economic slowdown rather than a seasonality shift. Against this background, the fourthquarter revenue of 404.8 million euros – an amount that was only 1.1 per cent under the amount of the prior-year quarter – is particularly noteworthy.

REVENUE PERFORMANCE 2008 in million euros

Due to the rise in the number of employees, Bechtle’s group productivity dropped slightly in 2008. Based on an average number of 3,971 full-time employees (prior year: 3,805), the revenue per employee amounted to 360,000 euros, compared to 364,000 euros in the prior year.

Germany continues to be the most important market for Bechtle. The domestic revenue totalled 938.9 million euros (prior year: 902.4 million euros), which represents a share of 65.6 per cent (prior year: 65.2 per cent) of the total revenue. The international revenue of 492.6 million euros (prior year: 481.1 million euros) accounted for 34.4 per cent of the total revenue (prior year: 34.8 per cent). Thus, compared to the prior year, the revenue distribution shifted slightly in favour of the domestic market. This was due to the acquisitions in Germany and the above-average growth of the domestic system houses.