FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Brenntag disappointed investors on Tuesday. In the morning, the shares of the chemicals trader fell to their lowest level since November. With a drop of almost 10 percent to 70.38 euros, they were in last place in the Dax, while the leading index moved slightly further away from the record high it reached on Friday with a moderate discount.

Analyst Suhasini Varanasi from Goldman Sachs saw the same weak trends for Brenntag at the start of the year as for its competitors IMCD and Azelis. The outlook shifted to the lower end of the target range implies a correction of market expectations of four percent. Expert Chetan Udeshi from JPMorgan also believes that the new targets are still optimistic.

Brenntag had also started 2024 with a sharper than expected decline in profits. "We are not satisfied with our performance," said CEO Christian Kohlpaintner. Investors saw it the same way on Tuesday.

At the beginning of March, the shares had approached their record high from 2021 at just over 87 euros. However, the company's cautious approach to further development in the current year and the lack of share buybacks had already weighed on the share price. Brenntag has now lost almost 15 per cent since the beginning of the year, making it one of the weakest DAX stocks./ajx/ag/jha/