DORTMUND (dpa-AFX) - IT service provider Adesso has posted a loss at the start of the year despite a significant increase in sales. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stagnated compared to the previous year at around 17.8 million euros, as the SDax-listed company announced in Dortmund on Monday. The bottom line was a loss of 3.2 million euros, after Adesso had made a profit of 2 million euros a year earlier. However, the result should pick up again in the course of the year, Adesso confirmed the forecast. Demand is good despite the subdued economy.

At the start of the year, the consolidated result was primarily burdened by depreciation in connection with the expansion of the company headquarters. Higher taxes also made themselves felt. In addition, there were two fewer working days than in the same quarter of the previous year and high investments in the IT Solutions segment. Nevertheless, the operating profit for the year as a whole is still expected to rise to between 110 and 130 million euros - also due to more working days in the second half of the year. Adesso is still aiming for a double-digit growth rate in sales to more than 1.25 billion euros. In the first quarter, revenues rose by 15 percent to 317.1 million euros.