Bilfinger SE

German industrial services giant Bilfinger has cut its full-year guidance and warned it may eliminate 1,500 jobs, blaming uncertainty from the Iran conflict for the surprise downgrade. CEO Thomas Schulz told Bloomberg Brief that customers are postponing necessary turnarounds and technical maintenance work into next year, which pushes contribution margin and profit lower through what he called a lower leverage or slight under absorption. Schulz said the postponements come from a large number of bigger blue-chip customers, and that the work cannot be delayed indefinitely. He attributed the shortfall to three factors converging this year: a slower activity level after a longer-than-normal winter, the start of the Iran war at the end of February, and increased tension since last weekend. Schulz said the group does not see a structural shift and expects the impact to be temporary, adding that Germany's expected industrial pickup has stalled and the government must now execute reforms faster.