(News Bulletin 247) – The services group is lowering its annual profitability target, the financial repercussions of the cyberattack suffered at the end of 2023 having been greater than anticipated by the group. Derichebourg also observes a continued contraction in the steel markets.

On the night of November 9 to 10, Derichebourg was the victim of a computer attack. The company assured that this incident had not interrupted its operational activities but had nevertheless disrupted their progress.

This case is not isolated; listed companies are regularly prime targets of computer attacks. At the beginning of March, the specialized distributor LDLC indicated that it had been the victim of a leak of customer data from its physical stores.

An amount larger than feared

In the case of Derichebourg, this computer attack resulted in a temporary unavailability of its main operating software, in particular during the last two months of 2023 and in January 2024 “to a lesser extent”, a explained the company on Tuesday evening in a press release.

“Thus, due to the lack of an adequate activity management tool, there appeared on the one hand, losses in purchasing volumes and a delay in the computer entry of flows and on the other hand, when the administrative delay been caught up, that the margins generated in the months of November 2023 and December 2023 were lower than usual”, adds Derichebourg.

The recycling and cleaning company estimated the financial repercussions of this cyberattack at between 15 million and 20 million euros. This amount turns out to be “larger than initially anticipated”, recognizes Derichebourg.

A steel market that is in trouble

In addition to this computer attack, Derichebourg explains that it is facing a deterioration in the economic situation during this semester. The company cites in particular a contraction in the production of long steels in particular, the level of activity of which is correlated with that of construction.

For Derichebourg, this deterioration results in purchases of metal waste from the “recycling” activity down by around 5% over the first six months. “This observation is consistent with Eurofer’s expectations which have also been revised downwards for the calendar year 2024 (with growth in apparent steel consumption of +5.6% compared to 7.6% previously)” , underlines TP ICAP Midcap in its note dedicated to Derichebourg.

In this complicated context, Derichebourg expects its current Ebitda (gross operating income) to stand between 140 million euros and 145 million euros, which reflects a decline in this indicator of around 35 million euros. euros to 40 million euros compared to last year.

Derichebourg therefore wanted to take the lead, ahead of the publication of its half-year results, scheduled for May 29 after the stock market, according to the indicative calendar provided by Derichebourg.

The group has at the same time lowered its objectives for its 2023-2024 financial year ending at the end of September. In his eyes, it is “at this time unlikely” that the Ebitda delay observed in the first half of the year will be made up in full by the end of the financial year.

A “more realistic” annual profitability objective

Derichebourg has no other choice but to abandon its objective of reaching at least 350 million euros of current Ebitda for 2023-2024, which was communicated during the publication of the 2022-2023 results at the beginning of December last.

Derichebourg is therefore formulating a new current Ebitda target. The group expects this indicator to be between 300 and 310 million euros at the end of its financial year, an objective which seems “realistic in the current state of the economy”. Excluding the financial repercussions of the cyberattack, current Ebitda would have been between 315 and 330 million euros.

“We believe that this profit warning was generally integrated into the prices,” says Julien Thomas, analyst at TP ICAP Midcap.

“The group is now targeting an Ebitda adjusted for the impact of the cyber attack stable year-on-year, which in our opinion includes a deterioration in processed volumes and unit margins, i.e. a fall in revenue but an increase in Ebitda margin (the group having become structurally more profitable),” he continues.

The specialist, however, awaits further comments on the balance sheet and cash generation during the first half of 2023-2024. He also underlines that this fall in Ebitda comes “at an inopportune time since the deconsolidation of DMS (multiservices division sold to Elior in 2023, Editor’s note) has materially increased the group’s financial leverage”.

Pending new information, TP ICAP Midcap renews its purchase recommendation with a target of 6 euros.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, the market does not appreciate this warning on results. Derichebourg shares fell another 4.5% to 4.18 euros after dropping 8.6% in early trading.