It's still tough out there
Q1 was undoubtedly a tough quarter for B3, and seemingly also for other IT consulting businesses. B3's sales and EBITA declined by 12% and 57% y-o-y, respectively. Compared to FactSet consensus, B3's sales were 6% below expectations while adj. EBITA missed by 18%. Utilisation continued to decline sequentially in Q1, but was supported by a stronger March. We would, however, need a few quarters' worth of data from both B3 and macroeconomic indicators to make judgment on whether the utilisation rates have stabilised.