The IT services sector's Q1 earnings season was still approached with a cautious mood, but this time the reason was Trump's tariff threats. Possible tariffs would not directly hit the IT services sector, but they would certainly have an indirect impact through customer caution.

We expect the performance of the IT service sector to improve as a whole in 2025. This year, as the market decline presumably stabilizes/turns back to growth, we should be able to see which companies have adapted to the changing market situation and whose strategy is working.

We examined Nordic, listed IT service companies with the 'Rule of 20' metric we launched, measured with which a few companies achieved excellent performance in 2024. On average, Finnish IT service companies fared worse last year than other Nordic companies. Overall, however, it can be said that 2024 was still challenging throughout the Nordics.

Looking at the year as a whole, the difficult market situation is illustrated by the fact that none of the listed companies in the IT service sector achieved excellent or even good performance according to the Rule of 20 we have introduced.

We are launching our own Rule of 20 for the IT services sector, which we believe works well, if not best, as a single parameter to measure the operational performance of the sector and especially of the companies.

In the coming year, companies should be able to see who has adapted to the changing market situation and whose strategy is working.

The IT services sector's Q3 results were met with a cautious mood after five companies in the sector issued profit warnings in just over a month. The decline in working day-adjusted organic revenue development for the sector's companies accelerated slightly as customers continued to economize, although the comparison period was already weak for most of them. Profitability, on the other hand, was significantly higher year-on-year, but the group was clearly divided between strong and weak performers.