:French IT consultancy group Capgemini on Wednesday lowered its 2024 revenue forecast for the second time this year, after continued weakness in some of its markets, particularly manufacturing, hit its sales of the third trimester.

The company, which offers services ranging from cloud and AI to business management across a wide range of industries, had in July forecast a surprise decline in annual revenue due to slowdowns in the IT sectors. automotive and aerospace.

The Paris-based group now expects a drop in turnover of between 2 and 2.4 percent at constant exchange rates, compared to a previous forecast of a drop of 0.5 to 1.5 percent.

Its shares fell 6.6% at 0902 GMT, among the worst performers on Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index.

“The group lacks dynamism in 2024 and potentially in 2025,” estimates Sarah Thirion, analyst at Midcap Partners, highlighting the discretionary nature of spending and Capgemini’s exposure to the automotive sector and the weakness of European markets.

However, she added that “the prospect of a gradual improvement in profitability remains intact beyond 2025”.

Capgemini’s third-quarter revenue fell 1.6 percent at constant currencies to 5.38 billion euros ($5.82 billion).

“In a market that remains weak overall, we expect similar growth in the fourth quarter,” CEO Aiman ​​Ezzat said in the release, while adding that the company expects headwinds in the sectors of technology and telecommunications are gradually diminishing.

“Customer demand continues to be driven by operational efficiencies and cost reduction and we capture their growing appetite for AI and Gen AI services,” Ezzat said.

($1 = 0.9244 euros)