CANCOM cuts 2026 revenue forecast to €1.65 billion at the low end
Key Facts
CANCOM cut its revenue forecast for fiscal 2026 after customers held back on investment and projects were delayed. In an announcement on October 26, the company said preliminary third-quarter revenue was €412.0 million, compared with €423.9 million in the same period of 2025. It said revenue fell short of the management board’s expectations. Preliminary EBITDA also declined to €24.1 million from €27.1 million a year earlier. EBITA fell to about €10.8 million, compared with €13.4 million. The annual forecast cut reflects continued weakness in customer spending, although the company said structural demand for digitalization remained high.
CANCOM attributed the slowdown to longer decision-making cycles and delayed project execution, saying the impact was particularly clear in its Workplace segment. The company said “longer decision-making cycles and project delays” affected performance. This puts weaker revenue in the context of customers postponing spending decisions, rather than a decline in structural demand for digitalization, which the company described as still high. In August, management had said delayed investment decisions had affected the first half of the year. CEO Rüdiger Rath said at the time that the first half had been significantly affected by customers postponing investment decisions. He added that their demand to deploy artificial intelligence and strengthen digital resilience and technological sovereignty remained high.
First-half results show a divergence between revenue and profitability ahead of the preliminary third-quarter figures. Revenue for the first six months of 2026 was €775.9 million, down from €803.8 million in the first half of 2025. By contrast, EBITDA rose to €49.2 million, an annual increase of 34%. The third-quarter decline in the metric to €24.1 million followed a period of improved first-half profitability, while revenue continued its annual decline. The preliminary third-quarter figures show that the challenge highlighted by the company around customer decisions and project delays persisted during the period.
The company cut its 2026 revenue forecast range to €1.65–1.75 billion from €1.75–1.85 billion previously. The low end of the forecast therefore fell from €1.75 billion to €1.65 billion, and the high end from €1.85 billion to €1.75 billion. CANCOM, meanwhile, kept its annual EBITDA forecast at €110–130 million. It also maintained its EBITA range at €55–75 million. The update revises the revenue estimate while leaving both profitability ranges unchanged, with the company announcing no changes to them.
The update comes as Germany’s ifo business climate index rose to 90.2 points in October from 89.9 in September. The institute attributed the increase to improved expectations, while companies rated their current situation as slightly worse. Germany’s consumer climate index is due on October 28. The European Central Bank’s Governing Council will hold its monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt on October 28 and 29, with a press conference scheduled for the second day. These are economic events ahead of CANCOM’s full quarterly report; the ECB calendar does not indicate that an interest-rate decision is certain at that meeting.
CANCOM is scheduled to publish its full quarterly report for the first nine months of 2026 on November 12. The report will provide final results for the period following the announcement of preliminary third-quarter figures. The full results will also allow investors to compare actual performance with the revised revenue forecast range and the two annual earnings ranges the company left unchanged. Until the report is released, the third-quarter figures in the company’s announcement remain preliminary. Investors will focus on how delays to customer decisions and Workplace projects are reflected in final results and the outlook for the year.