FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Following heavy losses on Friday and Monday, the Hornbach Holding share continued to fall on Tuesday in a barely changed overall market. More cautious analysts' comments and a disappointing quarterly report, including a gloomy outlook, from its British sector colleague Kingfisher had a negative impact.

At times, the share price of the parent company of Hornbach Baumärkte fell to its lowest level for around a year at € 61.25. The share was one of the weakest performers in the past year. Most recently, as one of the weakest SDax stocks, it fell by 2.0 percent to 61.80 euros, thus losing 12.5 percent within six trading days alone. In London, Kingfisher's shares were trading 7.4 percent lower at 218.10 pence around midday on Tuesday.

After Hornbach had already capped its 2023/24 annual targets on Friday on the presentation of key figures for the second financial quarter due to gloomy business, Kingfisher now followed suit. The British are becoming more cautious with regard to pre-tax profits in the current 2023/24 financial year. Customers in Poland had significantly curtailed their spending, according to the company, and consumer confidence in France had plummeted to a ten-year low. Kingfisher had clearly felt the effects of this in the past first half of the fiscal year.

Kepler-Cheuvreux analyst Ludovic Allegre recently reacted to Friday's Hornbach statements by removing his buy recommendation. His new investment rating is "Hold" with a price target reduced from 85 to 70 euros, which means that he now considers the valuation of the share to be quite reasonable. The risk of further share price losses is limited. After the end of the Corona pandemic, he had assumed a return to normality, he wrote. The profit warning therefore surprised him, he said.

Allegre said the group's previous targets had already factored in a challenging comparison base from the previous year and unfavorable weather conditions into the spring. What he had not taken into account was a further decline in consumer confidence in Europe and especially in Germany, he added.

Berenberg analyst Benjamin Thielmann maintained a "hold" rating, but lowered his price target to 69 euros from 90 euros. At least part of the profit warning may have been included in the share price earlier, he wrote, as well as a cautious outlook for the next twelve months.

According to him, in the gloomy construction and consumer environment, Hornbach will probably not simply pass on the price increases to its customers either, in order to at least maintain its market shares or possibly even expand them. In the gloomier consumer environment, customers are therefore likely to buy less, but not necessarily to visit the stores less frequently./ck/tav/stw