The Swabian software provider Teamviewer has only been the main sponsor of Manchester United for a year.

Now the Göppingen company seems to be regretting the expensive partnership, which runs until 2026 and costs more than 40 million pounds (almost 48 million euros) a year.

On Wednesday, the group surprisingly announced that the agreement would not be extended.

When it was concluded, annual growth of 20 percent was assumed, said the outgoing CFO Stefan Gaiser in a conference call with analysts.

Since then, however, growth has slowed significantly.

The share price has lost four-fifths of its value within a year and a half, one reason for this was the expensive sponsorship, which had squeezed the margin significantly.

Sponsorship had never been popular on the stock market.

Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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Analysts and investors were initially skeptical about the Teamviewer figures and the company's outlook on Wednesday.

The share price temporarily lost 8 percent.

After the telephone conference and the end of the sponsorship announced there, the paper recovered somewhat and was down almost 3 percent.

Difficult business with large customers

Teamviewer initially experienced a boom during the pandemic.

The company's software allows computers to be controlled remotely, which is used by IT departments, for example.

For a year and a half, growth has fallen short of targets.

There is a lot of turnover on the board.

A head of marketing only stayed a few months.

Teamviewer is also becoming more cautious for the year as a whole.

CEO Oliver Steil justified this in the conference call with the economic downturn.

"Corporate decision-makers are becoming more cautious and are postponing some investments," he said.

Above all, business with major customers has become more difficult.

Teamviewer takes a closer look at small and medium-sized companies and checks who is using the programs commercially and is therefore liable to pay for them.

This led to increased income.

Growth should now be at the lower end of the forecast range of EUR 630 to 650 million and thus amount to around 15 percent.

Teamviewer does not show the turnover, but the amounts billed to the customers.

The company confirmed its annual target for profitability.

In the second quarter, the amounts invoiced increased by an eighth compared to the same quarter of the previous year to 136.1 million euros, a currency-adjusted increase of 7 percent, but below analysts' expectations.

The number of employees fell by 10 percent.