The Group’s gross profit amounted to EUR 61,468 thousand in the first nine months, up 9% on the same period of the previous year. The gross profit margin improved from 43.7% to 45%. The higher proportion of sales from permanent placement had a positive effect on the gross profit margin; however, this was partially offset by the fact that there was one billable day fewer than in the previous year.
Selling and administrative expenses amounted to EUR 37,290 thousand in the period under review after EUR 34,031 thousand in the previous year. The 9.6% increase was primarily due to higher staff costs. This development was driven mainly by continued important investments in the sales organisation and the filling of open vacancies. The higher commission entitlements as a result of the successful development in earnings and the whole-year effect of the structural increase in fixed salaries for sales implemented during 2016 also served to increase expenses accordingly.
EBITA for the first nine months amounted to EUR 24,313 thousand (previous year: EUR 22,510 thousand), representing an increase of EUR 1,803 thousand or 8.0%. Although there was one billable day fewer compared with the previous year, the EBITA margin increased by 0.3 percentage points, from 17.5% in the previous year to 17.8% in the period under review.
The 2017 financial year as a whole will contain three fewer billable days than the previous year. This will have a negative effect on full-year sales, gross profit and earnings of around EUR 1.5 million. The aim remains to achieve moderate earnings growth compared with the previous year. Accordingly, the Management Board is reiterating its forecast for the 2017 financial year.
Since September 2017 the Amadeus FiRe Group is no longer listed in the SDAX index, but still meets the Prime Standard.
The full report can be found on our website:
https://www.amadeus-fire.de/1/investor-relations/berichte/