Amadeus Fire Group starts the current year on a positive note and confirms the forecast for the financial year 2026

Amadeus Fire Group starts the current year on a positive note and confirms the forecast for the financial year 2026

Frankfurt/Main, 6^th May 2026

The Amadeus Fire Group (ISIN: DE0005093108, Prime Standard) has achieved a successful beginning to the financial year 2026. Despite a market environment that remains challenging, business is performing in line with expectations and confirms the assumptions formulated for the current year.

The overall economic situation in Germany remains challenging. Consequently, the Amadeus Fire Group’s business performance continued to be characterised by a reluctance to invest and to recruit, as well as by a general increase in uncertainty among clients and in the candidate market.

As expected, the earnings level was not attained in relation to the same quarter of the previous year. However, against the backdrop of the significant cost and structural optimisation measures already implemented in 2025, the first quarter of 2026 shows a stabilised operational performance. Compared with the final quarter of 2025, revenue and gross operating profit improved. This provides the basis for a gradual return to higher profitability over the course of the year.

The Management Board confirms the forecast for the financial year 2026. The goal remains a significant increase in earnings and the first sustainable step back to higher profit margins. The clear strategic direction, the strong market position and the integrated model combining Personnel Services and Training will create value in the long term, even without external economic support currently. The aim is to bring the Amadeus Fire Group back to former strength – with a sense of proportion, financial discipline, a focus on opportunities arising from technology, and a clear focus on sustainable, profitable growth as soon as the market allows. Over the course of the financial year, earnings will show a continuous improvement from quarter to quarter compared with the corresponding quarters of the previous year.

The Amadeus Fire Group generated revenue of €89.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, in line with the Group’s expectations and down 9.0 percent on the previous year’s figure of €98.2 million, but up 3.5 percent on the fourth quarter of 2025 figure of €86.3 million. The operating gross margin* of 51.2 percent is only slightly below the previous year’s figure of 52.0 percent, but is also higher than the fourth quarter figure of 50.7 percent, resulting in lower operating gross profit* of €45.8 million, a year-on-year decline of 10.4 percent (previous year: €51.1 million), but an increase of 4.5 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2025 (previous quarter: €43.8 million).

Lower operating gross profit* – primarily in the Personnel Services segment – as well as future-oriented investments in the digital transformation of the Amadeus Fire Group result in a disproportionate decline in operating EBITA* of around 30 percent. Operating EBITA* for the first quarter of 2026 amounts to €3.0 million, compared with €4.3 million in the previous year.

The Amadeus Fire Group generated an operating profit after income tax of €0.8 million after the first three months of the financial year 2026 (Q1/2025: €2.2 million). The share of the net profit for Q1/2026 attributable to the shareholders of Amadeus Fire AG amounts to €-0.9 million (Q1/2025: €1.0 million), resulting in basic earnings per share of €-0.16, compared with €0.18 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The Group's equity amounted to €130.1 million as at 31 March 2026, slightly below the level of €130.9 million as at 31 December 2025. This decrease is entirely attributable to the net loss for the period of €0.8 million recorded as at 31 March 2026. Consequently, due to the balance sheet total having risen by around 1.3 percent compared with the end of 2025, the equity ratio was slightly lower at 35.8 percent (31 December 2025: 36.5 percent).

Personnel Services segment

As previously forecasted, the market environment in the Personnel Services segment remained tight in the first quarter of 2026. The ongoing uncertainty—now compounded by the armed conflicts in the Middle East—was reflected in cautious demand and low employee turnover. Companies remain cautious about personnel decisions; recruitment processes are taking longer, and hiring needs are being managed on a more ad hoc and short-term basis.

The temporary staffing, permanent placement, interim management and project management services underperformed compared with the same quarter of the previous year, falling short of the even stronger market and business performance seen in the first quarter of 2025, but showed stable performance at segment level compared with the fourth quarter of 2025. In this context, the segment’s gross operating profit increased by 6.3 percent.

As a result of these factors, the segment’s revenue of €47.7 million was, as expected, 17.6 percent lower than the previous year’s quarterly figure of €57.9 million. The segment’s operating gross profit fell by 18.9 percent to €21.9 million (Q1/2025: €27.1 million). Accordingly, the segment’s operating gross profit margin fell to 46.0 percent (Q1/2025: 46.8 percent).

Operationally, the cost-control and efficiency-enhancement measures initiated in the previous year were consistently continued. The focus was on strict management of the cost base as well as productivity and quality control within the branch network. Performance management and a continued cautious approach to filling vacancies resulted in a correspondingly lower cost base, which supports earnings growth. At the same time, investments in systems and processes were prioritised to further develop the organisation structurally.

Operating segment EBITA, at €1.7 million, was ultimately below the previous year’s figure (€2.7 million) but in line with expectations, resulting in an operating EBITA margin of 3.6 percent (Q1/2025: 4.7 percent).

Training segment

The Training segment recorded a robust overall performance in the first quarter of 2026, with revenue slightly above the previous year’s level. As noted in the Annual Report 2025, the development was mixed: While the private customer sector (B2C) developed stably to slightly positively and publicly funded training (B2G) remained below the previous year’s level, the corporate customer sector (B2B) demonstrated significantly positive momentum. The revenue from Masterplan and eduBITES, companies acquired in 2025, also had a positive impact here.

As a result of these factors, the segment’s revenue of €41.8 million rose by 3.4 percent compared with the €40.4 million recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. However, the segment’s operating gross profit fell slightly by -0.7 percent to €23.9 million (Q1/2025: €24.1 million). Accordingly, the operating gross profit margin for the segment fell to still solid 57.2 percent (Q1/2025: 59.6 percent).

Essentially, the B2C and B2G segments generated the operating EBITA of €1.3 million, which was 16.8 percent lower than the previous year’s figure (Q1/2025: €1.6 million), although the result in the B2G sector was already higher than the previous year. The operating EBITA margin of 3.1 percent is therefore also below the comparable figure for the same quarter of the previous year (Q1/2025: 3.9 percent).

Operationally, the focus remained on the consistent management and further development of the training organisation and the modernisation of the digital learning environment. Investments in IT infrastructure and modern learning formats were prioritised to ensure operational efficiency and expand the scalability of the offering, particularly in the technology-driven B2B training market. In terms of earnings and margins, the quarter was influenced—in line with the logic described last year—not only by the utilisation of the network of locations but also, in particular, by cost drivers in service delivery (including qualified freelance staff) as well as continued investments in the further development of the IT environment.

* For the definition of operating gross profit and operating EBITA for the Amadeus Fire Group, please refer to the
    first footnote on page 2 of the Q1 2026 interim statement.

You will receive the dial-in details for the conference call on 7^th May 2026 at 08:30 CEST in a separate invitation.

The full interim statement for Q1 2026 is available on the website at:
https://group.amadeus-fire.de/en/investor-relations/financial-reports/
 

Contact:
Jörg Peters
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 69 96 87 61 80
e-mail: jpeters@amadeus-fire.de