KOBLENZ (dpa-AFX) - After a solid start to the fiscal year that runs until the end of September, the automotive and industrial supplier Stabilus sees itself on track to meet its targets. In the first fiscal quarter, Stabilus was again able to strongly increase its sales, but had to accept a damper on profitability. This caused disgruntlement on the financial market. The Stabilus share, which has been listed on the MDax for several months, lost up to six percent in the first half hour of trading. It was last quoted 4.4 percent down at 61.60 euros.

According to the confirmed forecast, sales are expected to reach 1.1 to 1.2 billion euros in fiscal 2022/23, having climbed by almost a fifth to 1.12 billion euros in the previous fiscal year, the company said in Koblenz on Monday. The margin based on earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) adjusted for special items is expected to remain between 13 and 14 percent, compared with 14.0 percent in the previous year.

In the first three months of the fiscal year, the Group continued to benefit from brisk demand. Compared to the same period of the previous year, sales increased by 19 percent to just under 291 million euros. Operating profit increased by eleven percent to 32.6 million euros. As profit growth lagged behind the increase in sales, the margin fell by 0.8 percentage points to 11.2 percent. Stabilus thus performed better than expected on the revenue side. However, the margin lagged significantly behind expectations.

The bottom line was down 14 percent to 15.5 million euros due to higher financing costs, mainly as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.

JPMorgan expert Akshat Kacker expects profitability to improve step by step in the coming quarters, however. Following the figures for the first three months of the fiscal year, he reiterated his rating of "Overweight" and a target price of 74 euros. Kacker believes that the automotive and industrial supplier is better positioned than many of its competitors to master the current market conditions.

In the automotive business, for example, Stabilus is likely to grow faster than the car market thanks to gains in market share. In the industrial sector, the company is broadly positioned to continue growing. In addition, thanks to its good market position and the low prices of its products, the Group should be able to pass on rising costs to customers.

Warburg Research expert Marc-René Tonn also pointed to high cost inflation at the Koblenz-based company, especially in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segment. In the Americas, profitability recovered in the first quarter - although not as strongly as he had hoped. In Asia, on the other hand, Stabilus performed even better than expected. As in the previous year, the Group-wide earnings yield should improve towards the end of the fiscal year./zb/men/mis/stk