PARIS (Reuters) – OVHcloud fell on the Paris Stock Exchange on Wednesday after the downward revision of its forecast for turnover and adjusted EBITDA margin for 2023, the group citing the volatile macroeconomic context and the postponement of certain projects against a backdrop of falling demand.
At 08:20 GMT, the action of the specialist in cloud computing services plunged 13.15% to 9.90 euros, the red lantern of the SBF 120 (-0.1%).
The title fell briefly to 9.60 euros, its lowest level ever recorded.
On the occasion of the publication of its half-year results, OVHcloud said it was aiming for organic growth in its turnover of between 13% and 14% this year, against a previous forecast of 14% to 16%.
The Ebitda margin for 2023 is now expected to be above 36% against an initial target of a margin in line with that of 2022, at 39%.
These new forecasts incorporate “recent changes in demand which reflect in the short term a delay in certain migration projects to the cloud or extension of existing infrastructures”, OVHcloud said in a press release.
“A cost control plan has been put in place to improve the margin rate from the second half of 2023 and to continue to control Capex”, he adds.
Cloud services groups have seen signs of slowing demand and faced higher costs, especially on energy, as their data centers consume large amounts of electricity.
The giant Amazon, present in the “cloud” with its subsidiary AWS, recently announced job cuts.
“Inevitably, investors (…) will wonder if a challenger or a niche player like OVH can continue to grow as much as it has said in a context where others say it is slowing down”, signaled in a note published earlier this week Derric Marcon, analyst at Societe Generale.
In its press release, OVHcloud said it expects a normalization of its electricity costs over the next few quarters and a favorable effect on the margin from the second half of price increases with customers.
During the first half ended February 28, its turnover reached 439 million euros, up 15%, and the adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 35.4%.
(Report Olivier Sorgho, Blandine Hénault for the , edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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