(Reuters) – Cloud computing service provider OVHcloud is on course for its worst trading session on record on Tuesday after lowering its 2024 revenue target citing difficult conditions, particularly in Europe .
Despite a half-year profit above expectations, the group lowered its forecast for organic turnover growth and said it expected a range of between 9% and 10%, compared to 11% and 13% previously announced.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, OVHcloud shares plunged 14.17% to 8.02 euros at 08:26 GMT.
According to Valentin-Paul Jahan, analyst at Stifel, the share plunge is explained by the downward revision of the turnover forecast and by the “caution” of the company, which did not note its margin objective when it was able to do so.
“It’s a financial communication problem, I think they could have accompanied this downward revision of turnover growth with a slightly upward revision of the anticipated EBITDA margin,” he said. -he says.
OVHcloud confirmed on Tuesday that it expects a margin of more than 37% in 2024 after reaching 37.9% during the first half of the year.
In a press release, the group mentioned “an economic context offering little visibility, particularly in Europe where customers are optimizing their cloud resources”.
“This reduced economic visibility in 2024 leads us to review our turnover objectives,” said the group’s general director.
OVHcloud generates most of its turnover in France and more widely in Europe.
The company’s turnover in France increased by 10.1% in the first half, compared to growth of 14% during the same period of the previous year.
The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for its part recorded growth of 18.3% to 184 million euros, exceeding the 180.3 million euros forecast by the consensus provided by the group.
The cloud service provider also announced the appointment of Benjamin Revcolevschi as deputy general director from May 6 and his integration into the executive committee.
(Written by Olivier Sorgho and Alban Kacher, French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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