NEUTRAUBLING (dpa-AFX) - Filling and packaging equipment manufacturer Krones started the year with strong growth despite the weakening economy in many countries. Sales and profits increased even more than analysts had expected. The willingness of international beverage companies to invest remains very high, the company announced in Neutraubling on Friday. Krones' markets were hardly affected by economic fluctuations. Investors on the stock exchange, however, did not quite trust the bright prospects and sent Krones' shares plummeting.

In the morning, the stock lost three and a half percent at times. Most recently, it was still down almost two percent at 115.20 euros, but was still one of the biggest losers in the SDax small-cap index. However, the Krones share price had developed strongly in recent months. After being propped up to below the 42 euro mark at the beginning of the Corona crisis in 2020, it temporarily almost reached its record high of 122.80 euros from 2018 again at 120.30 euros at the end of April 2023.

Analyst Peter Rothenaicher of Baader Bank attested to the company's excellent quarterly figures on Friday. The annual targets confirmed by the Executive Board therefore appeared conservative. He himself considers the share to be attractively valued.

In the first quarter, Krones received orders worth a good 1.5 billion euros. Although this was almost three percent less than in the unusually good prior-year period, it was around 28 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Sales at the start of the year jumped by a good 21 percent year-on-year to almost 1.2 billion euros. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose by almost a third to just under 115 million euros. Below the line, Krones earned 63.5 million euros, around 58 per cent more than a year earlier.

CEO Christoph Klenk reported an "extraordinarily" high demand for the company's products and services. Despite the significant increase in sales, the order backlog had climbed by 314 million euros to 3.78 billion euros during the first three months.

The manager also sees this success as a challenge: The "enormous mountain of orders" has to be processed on time and in the usual quality. The situation on the procurement markets has stabilized. But there is still no sign of normality. In his opinion, the shortage of electronic components will not ease until the second half of the year.

While the outlook for the global economy has recently deteriorated again, Klenk believes that his company is fundamentally in an advantageous position. The company's markets are growing stably, and demand is hardly affected by cyclical economic fluctuations, he wrote to shareholders. He therefore continues to expect sales growth of between 8 and 11 percent for the current year. Of this, 9 to 10 percent is expected to remain as operating profit (Ebitda), compared with an 8.9 percent margin last year./stw/lew/mis