AUGSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The real estate group Patrizia felt the effects of the poor market situation in the first quarter. The investment and transaction markets for real estate and infrastructure remained subdued, the company announced in Augsburg on Tuesday evening. The high level of uncertainty due to differing interest rate expectations and heightened geopolitical tensions had a negative impact on real estate trading in Europe. The Patrizia share lost around 2.3 percent to 8.39 euros by lunchtime on Wednesday, making it one of the weakest stocks in the small-cap index SDax.

In the first quarter, Patrizia's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by more than a third year-on-year to 17.3 million euros. "Despite the challenging market environment, we are seeing the first signs of stabilization," said CEO Asoka Wohrmann according to the press release. He therefore believes that the Group is well on the way to achieving its annual forecast of 30 to 60 million euros.

For analyst Andre Remke from Baader Bank, the real estate group's first quarter was again weak. The environment for transactions remains challenging. Patrizia's management assumes that customer investment activity will only pick up in the course of the year. It expects a normalization of the interest rate environment and increased activity on the transaction markets as soon as potential buyers and sellers agree on new price levels following the change in the interest rate environment.

The Group's fee income fell by a good 13% to EUR 72.5 million in the first three months, mainly due to lower management fees. Meanwhile, transactions on its own platform increased by over a fifth. The majority of purchases took place in the infrastructure sector and the majority of sales in the commercial real estate sector. Assets under management fell by 2.4 percent to 56.7 billion euros due to valuation pressure.

The bottom line for shareholders in the first three months was a profit of 4.6 million euros, significantly less than the 12.5 million euros in the same period last year./mne/men/stw/stk