QSC sees 2016 targets as challenging: paper
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Internet service provider QSC may have a tough time reaching its 2016 financial targets if new cloud services fail to gain traction in the next few years, its chief financial officer told a German paper.
The company has previously said it is targeting 2016 sales of 0.8-1 billion euros ($1.09-1.37 billion) and a margin for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 25 percent.
"The targets and strategy are still valid. Whether this can be realized in 2016 or 2017 depends on innovations," Barbara Stolz told Boersen-Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday.
"Reaching the 2016 targets surely is a challenge," she said, adding that the contribution from cloud services to the group's sales was limited so far.
According to Thomson Reuters data, analysts expect QSC's 2016 sales to reach 488 million euros, with an EBITDA margin of 19.3 percent.
QSC, which is scheduled to present preliminary full-year results for 2013 on February 26, has targeted sales of at least 450 million euros and an EBITDA margin of at least 17 percent for last year.
($1 = 0.7307 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, editing by David Evans)
