DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Plant manufacturer Gea has started the new year slightly better than experts expected. The company started 2024 with a very good result, said CEO Stefan Klebert in a statement on Wednesday. With the expansion of the service share to 38 percent of sales, the Group has even achieved a record figure. Overall, the management is confident about the coming months and confirms the targets for the current financial year. The share price rose by around 1.2 percent around midday.

The MDax-listed company announced on Wednesday that turnover fell by a good 2 percent year-on-year to 1.24 billion euros between January and the end of March. Adjusted for portfolio and exchange rate effects, however, earnings rose by 2.7 percent.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and before restructuring expenses amounted to 180.5 million euros, a good 5 percent more than a year ago and more than analysts had expected. The margin thus improved by 1.0 percentage points to 14.5 percent. The profit below the line increased by almost 11 percent to 90.6 million euros.

For analyst Akash Gupta from the US bank JPMorgan, the plant engineering company recorded a solid margin development despite weaker sales. Analyst Sebastian Kuenne from the Canadian bank RBC described the quarterly results as solid. The strong earnings performance stood out. However, the decline in orders was expected.

Gea suffered a significant decline in incoming orders in the first quarter. Orders fell by almost 14 percent to just under 1.4 billion euros. One of the reasons given by the company for this was the postponement of larger orders, particularly large orders with a volume of more than 15 million euros. According to analyst Rizk Maidi from analyst firm Jefferies, the company nevertheless received more orders than expected.

Gea continues to expect organic sales growth of 2.0 to 4.0 percent for 2024. Of this, 14.5 to 14.8 percent is expected to remain as operating profit before restructuring expenses./mne/mis/stk