Overall Assessment

Even in retrospect, the financial and economic crisis is an exceptional situation whose dimensions Bechtle could not foresee. The crisis will affect the group’s medium-term targets, but not its longterm goals.

Despite the macroeconomic situation, the Executive Board expects the business performance of Bechtle AG over the next two years to be above the industry average. As the restructuring has been largely completed, the management has established good preconditions for making better use of opportunities in a recessive environment and implementing Bechtle’s yields-oriented growth in the long run.

Bechtle wants to grow organically and by means of acquisitions

Acquisitions will remain an integral element of the growth strategy in all business fields. In IT e-commerce, however, the Executive Board will mainly focus on organic growth, while in the IT system house & managed services segment, selective acquisitions may complement the regional positioning and competence profile of Bechtle AG.

Certification and training measures will continue to play an important role. With the academy’s expanded qualification offer, Bechtle plans to continue recruiting more specialists and executives from its own ranks, in order to be prepared for the looming shortage of qualified staff.

Bechtle continues to attach greater importance to long-term business continuity than to short-term income optimisation. After the economically exceptional years 2007 and 2008, the management of Bechtle AG is confronted with a much more competitive environment and difficult general economic parameters in the current year. But even this economic situation offers opportunities in that especially in such times, it is necessary to establish the basis for being able to react quickly to a potential improvement of the economic factors. The possibility to enter new international markets in the future, the growing contribution of managed services, and the broader positioning in the public clients division are to provide added support for this development.

Neckarsulm, March 2009
Bechtle AG

The Executive Board