^ Original-Research: q.beyond AG - from NuWays AG

22.10.2026 / 09:00 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Research, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this research. The result of this research does not constitute investment advice or an invitation to conclude certain stock exchange transactions.

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Classification of NuWays AG to q.beyond AG

Company Name: q.beyond AG ISIN: DE000A41YDG0

Reason for the research: Update Recommendation: BUY Target price: EUR 4.90 Target price on sight of: 12 months Last rating change: Analyst: Philipp Sennewald

FY26 written off, FY27 on trial; Chg.

Yesterday, QBY released Q3 prelims and cut its guidance for the second time this year. While Q3p sales of EUR 43.2m where in line with eNuW of EUR 43.1m, EBITDA of EUR -4.8m (eNuW: EUR -0.2m) significantly missed expectations. As part of the EUR 4.3m of provisions for the lay-offs under the accelerated AI transformation were already included in our forecast (EUR 2.5m, rest was expected for Q4), the shortfall is largely operational. Adjusted for the one-offs, EBTIDA stood at EUR -0.5m, down EUR 3m qoq on largely unchanged sales.

Management now targets FY sales of EUR 174-178m (old: EUR 176-180m) and EBITDA of EUR -4 to -2m (old: EUR 3-7m). Importantly, the restructuring is not the reason for the cut, as stated in the H1 report, the old range already included EUR 5-6m one-off transformation costs, of which EUR 5.2m are now booked (EUR 0.9m in Q2). Ex one-offs, guidance thus drops to EUR 2-4m from EUR 9-13m, i.e. some EUR 8m of operational deterioration at mid-point within then weeks.

The main issues are higher one-off licenses costs, additional spend on internal digitalisation incl. AI tools and customer deferred projects in the sales pipeline, especially MS. With 9m EBITDA of EUR -1.7m, Q4 is now implied to come in at EUR -2.3 to -0.3m (eNuW: EUR -0.7m, thereof EUR 0.8m one-off), hence no meaningful improvement despite GITG and improved order intake.

Speaking of which, OI in Q3 jumped to EUR 49.7m, almost matching the entire H1 (EUR 51.9m) and implying a b-t-b of 1.15x. Together with the c. EUR 7m annual cost savings from FY27 (70-80 FTE reduction in Germany, service-desk relocation to Cluj & process automation), this underpins managements outlook for markedly increasing top- and bottom-line next year.

In our view, the second cut within ten weeks definitely hurts credibility, especially the magnitude of it. That said, we continue to see the potential of the business, which should be able to yield c. 10% EBITDA margins at improved utilization both in MS and Consulting. However, management needs to demonstrate that the initiatives taken generate visible improvements, with the first reality check being Q1'27.

Until then, we do not see any positive catalysts. In contrary, we regard the FY28 guidance of EUR 250m sales (eNuW: EUR 204m) and 10% EBITDA margin (eNuW: 6.5%) as at risk. That said, we confirm our BUY rating with a slightly lower PT of EUR 4.90 (old: EUR 5.10,as we only cut FY26e and leave our estimates from FY27e onwards unchanged, supported by the order intake and the savings programme, so the DCF impact remains marginal. With net cash of EUR 19.3m (eNuW for FY26e) and the hidden reserve of the Hamburg data centre covering c. 2/3 of the market cap (eNuW), downside protection should be clearly given.

You can download the research here: https://nwr.eqs-cockpit.com/fncls2.ssx?fn=redirect&u=cfa9602ab759aad4644bb6193a965deb For additional information visit our website: https://www.nuways-ag.com/research

Contact for questions: NuWays AG - Equity Research Web: www.nuways-ag.com Email: research@nuways-ag.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuwaysag Adresse: Mittelweg 16-17, 20148 Hamburg, Germany ++++++++++ Diese Meldung ist keine Anlageberatung oder Aufforderung zum Abschluss bestimmter Börsengeschäfte. Offenlegung möglicher Interessenkonflikte nach § 85 WpHG beim oben analysierten Unternehmen befindet sich in der vollständigen Analyse. ++++++++++

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2420042 22.10.2026 CET/CEST

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Quelle: dpa-Afx