Mainland Europe’s largest reseller did grow in 2024 – at least going by its ultimate top line – as it enjoyed a “slight upturn” in fortunes in the final quarter.
Bechtle’s business volume advanced by around 2% last year to hit nearly €8bn, it said in a trading update this morning.
That was partly thanks to a “slight upturn” in Q4, when business volume rose by around 4%.
Bechtle’s testing 2024
The Germany-based giant was forced to downgrade its full-year forecasts last summer after its Q2 performance fell short of expectations.
At the start of 2024, an upbeat Bechtle predicted that business volume, revenue and earnings would undergo a “significant increase” during the year. But in July, it tempered this, forecasting that these three figures would all be “on a par” with 2023.
The picture got even bleaker in November when Bechtle warned it no longer expected to achieve that adjusted forecast following a disappointing Q3.
Although the Neckarsulm-based outfit ultimately topped its revised outlook when it came to business volume, full-year revenue and EBIT both shrunk (by 2% and 8%, respectively).
Bechtle’s 2024 EBIT margin also fell from 5.8% to 5.5% year on year.
Slowing sales growth
For context, Bechtle’s business volume growth of 2% last year is down on the 7% growth registered in 2023, and 16% uplift generated in 2022.
Its only larger European peer – UK-based Computacenter – last month indicated its 2024 top line will be fractionally down on the £10bn it hauled in the previous year.
Bechtle made six acquisitions during 2024, two of which – namely wireless networking specialist Qolcom and CAD software developer DriveWorks – were UK based.
It ranked 41st in Oxygen 250.
In a notable high point last year, Bechtle founded a charitable organisation with the aim of widening the scope of its social commitment activities in areas such as education and equality.
