Amadeus Fire Group asserts itself in a challenging market environment after nine months and confirms annual outlook for FY 2025

Amadeus Fire Group asserts itself in a challenging market environment after nine months and confirms annual outlook for FY 2025

Frankfurt/Main, 28 October 2025

The business performance of the Amadeus Fire Group (ISIN: DE0005093108, Prime Standard, SDAX) developed in line with the Management Board’s expectations in both the Personnel Services and Training segments in the third quarter. The outlook for the potential economic development in Germany for the rest of 2025 remains weak. The Management Board does not expect any significant change or momentum.

Companies in Germany assess their current situation cautiously and are increasingly planning to operate with fewer staff. The ifo Employment Barometer fell to 92.5 points in September 2025, down from 93.8 points in August – the lowest level since June 2020. Nevertheless, the structural growth drivers – demographic change, the persistent shortage of skilled workers and the growing demand for professional qualification – remain intact. They form the foundation for long-term confidence.

In the third quarter, the Amadeus Fire Group took a strategic step forward in B2B Training In September, an acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares in Masterplan.com GmbH was completed, a targeted investment in the digital education market. The tech company operates on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and is one of the most innovative e-learning platforms for corporate training. The scalable platform enables profitable growth in the B2B market, opens up new cross-selling potentials and strengthens the position in the dynamic EdTech segment – a future market with high economic and social relevance. The goal is to establish a leading corporate learning platform in the medium term.

After nine months, the Amadeus Fire Group generated consolidated revenue of €277.2 million, which is 17.9 per cent below the previous year's figure of €337.7 million. At €143.0 million, operating gross profit* was also significantly below the previous year's figure of €184.5 million, representing a decline of 22.5 per cent. The gross profit margin was 51.6 per cent (previous year: 54.4 per cent).

Against the backdrop of declining revenue, measures to increase efficiency and cost discipline continue to be implemented consistently. In the area of publicly funded training, at Comcave, a restructuring process was initiated in August. This was a necessary step to ensure competitiveness and profitability. Restructuring expenses of €5.3 million had a one-time negative impact on operating profit in the third quarter. After three quarters, the significantly lower gross profits in the two segments of Personnel Services and Training, as well as the one-off effect of restructuring, led to a disproportionate decline in operating EBITA* of 79.1 per cent to €9.7 million (previous year: €46.4 million). The Group's operating EBITA* margin was 3.5 percent (previous year: 13.8 percent). Adjusted for the effect of restructuring, operating EBITA* would have been €15.0 million.

At the half-year stage, a broad potential earnings corridor for operating EBITA was envisaged for the adjusted outlook at that time. The reasons for this were, on the one hand, positive market opportunities resulting from economic recovery and rapid budgetary certainty and, on the other hand, the uncertain and opaque economic situation and possible additional structural adjustments in the event of continued weakness. There was no significant recovery, but budgetary security has now been established. A structural measure was initiated with the restructuring of Comcave, which had an earnings effect of a good €5 million. Taking these factors into account, the Management Board expects operating earnings to be at the lower end of the range forecast at the half-year for consolidated operating EBITA*, which is between €15 million and €25 million (€55.5 million for the full year 2024).

The Amadeus Fire Group generated an operating profit after income taxes of €4.5 million after nine months of the 2025 financial year (previous year: €32.5 million). The share of the profit for the period attributable to shareholders of Amadeus Fire AG amounts to minus €0.5 million (9M/2024: €26.0 million), resulting in basic earnings per share of minus €0.09 after €4.79 in the same period of the previous year.

The Group’s equity amounted to €132.7 million as of 30 September 2025, below the level of €155.0 million as of 31 December 2024, mainly due to the dividend distribution of €21.9 million for the 2024 financial year. Total assets of the Amadeus Fire Group increased by €32.7 million as of 30 September 2025, largely attributable to the acquisition effects of Masterplan amounting to €31.4 million. Due to the higher balance sheet total compared to year-end 2024, the equity ratio decreased to 36.6 percent (31 December 2024: 46.9 percent).

Personnel Services segment in detail
The declining revenue trend in the Personnel Services segment continued towards the end of the third quarter of 2025. As expected, there was no recovery compared to the already weak first half of the year. Segment revenue for the first nine months of the 2025 financial year amounted to €161.0 million (9M/2024: €208.9 million), representing a decrease of -22.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Operating segment gross profit declined by -26.7 percent to €76.4 million (9M/2024: €104.3 million). Accordingly, the segment’s operating gross profit margin decreased to 47.5 percent (9M/2024: 49.9 percent) but slightly improved compared to the first half of 2025 (46.6 percent). Operating segment EBITA amounted to €11.2 million, down -61.4 percent from €29.1 million in the previous year, resulting in an operating EBITA margin of 7.0 percent (9M/2024: 13.9 percent), slightly above the first half’s 5.2 percent.

The conversion of customer enquiries into actual orders remains at a low level. Uncertainty on the customer side leads to extended decision-making activities, while ongoing placement processes are increasingly stalling or being cancelled altogether. Recruitment decisions are being postponed or suspended entirely. Meanwhile, candidates are showing growing risk aversion, reflected in a declining willingness to change jobs. The ongoing structural shortage of skilled workers is being overshadowed by cyclical uncertainties, resulting in a noticeable paralysis of the market.

Against this background, staffing levels across the branch organisation are continuously reviewed. New hires are currently being made only on a very selective basis. Simultaneously, relevant performance indicators are critically assessed to further improve the efficiency and target sales activities. Strict cost management and reduced personnel expenses can only partially compensate for the decline in gross profit.

Training segment in detail
Revenue in the Training segment developed slightly more stable than expected in the third quarter of 2025. Overall, segment revenue declined by -9.8 percent to €116.4 million (9M/2024: €129.1 million) compared with the very successful first nine months of the previous year. Operating segment gross profit* decreased by -17.1 percent to €66.7 million (9M/2024: €80.4 million). Accordingly, the operating gross profit* margin decreased to 57.3 percent (9M/2024: 62.3 percent). The significantly lower operating EBITA* of the Training segment amounted to minus €1.5 million, marking the first negative result and a significant decrease compared with €17.3 million in the previous year, resulting in an operating EBITA* margin of minus 1.3 percent (9M/2024: 13.4 percent). Excluding the restructuring effect of minus €5.3 million, the segment’s result in the third quarter of 2025 would be slightly above its own expectations at around €3 million, despite additional expenses related to acquisition activities.

The decline in participant numbers in publicly funded training (B2G) continued in the third quarter. Several factors contributed to this development: firstly, the change in responsibility for issuing training vouchers at the beginning of the year led to significant delays in participation in funded training programmes. Secondly, the Federal Budget for 2025 was only adopted at the end of September, which previously caused a marked reluctance in the issuance of training vouchers.

These uncertainties particularly affected the business development of Comcave, whose revenue declined by 21 percent to €49.5 million compared to the previous year. The persistent weakness and significantly reduced volume at Comcave led to structural adjustments in the third quarter. The restructuring initiated in August involves significant staff reductions and downsizing of training space capacities. The transition to a newly organised and smaller entity forms the basis for regaining economic strength. This restructuring burdened Training’s earnings by €5.3 million in the third quarter. Due to the restructuring of Comcave and the interest rate development as of 30 September 2025, an impairment test was conducted for the cash-generating units carrying goodwill. No impairment requirement was identified.

GFN, that specialises in IT training which also operates in the publicly funded (B2G) sector, recorded a moderate decline in revenue. Revenue fell by 4.6 percent year-on-year to €39.5 million, reflecting current challenges in the B2G market.

In contrast, the course and seminar business for private customers (B2C) at Steuer-Fachschule Dr. Endriss grew once again, achieving an excellent 9.4 percent increase in revenue compared to the previous year. The smaller corporate customer business (B2B) included therein showed a slight decline, reflecting the continued reluctance of companies to invest.

Strict cost management continues to apply across all companies and functions. Activities aimed at modernising and digitalising the training operations are being pursued. These investments are part of the strategic development and are intended to support ongoing digitalisation and new learning formats in the long term, initiate new training products and systematically identify and pursue opportunities for inorganic growth. The Group’s goal remains to advance the acquisition-based development of the Training segment even in the currently challenging environment.

* Explanations of the alternative performance measures used are included in the 2024 Annual Report:
https://group.amadeus-fire.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Geschaeftsbericht-2024_EN-1.pdf

Dial-in details for the explanatory conference call on 29 October 2025 at 8:30 a.m. CET will be provided in a separate invitation.

The complete interim report is published on our website at
https://group.amadeus-fire.de/en/investor-relations/financial-reports/

Contact:
Jörg Peters
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 69 96 87 62 73
eMail: jpeters@amadeus-fire.de