LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) - Low prices for zinc and high smelting charges have weighed heavily on the industrial recycler Befesa 2023. While sales increased slightly, the MDax group had to cope with a significant decline in earnings based on preliminary figures. The shares fell by one percent to 29 euros on Thursday. In early trading, they had slipped to their lowest level since the beginning of November 2023.

As the company also announced in Luxembourg, turnover rose by four percent to just under 1.2 billion euros. The zinc refinery business in the USA benefited from an acquisition. However, market prices for zinc fell significantly. Together with high treatment and refining charges and higher prices for coking coal, this put pressure on the profit margin. The Group was only able to partially offset the negative effects through better hedging of zinc prices, lower energy costs and synergies.

Operating profit adjusted for one-off effects (adjusted EBITDA) fell by 15 percent year-on-year to EUR 182 million. Befesa had already lowered its profit target to around 180 million euros at the end of October. The bottom line was a net profit of 58 million euros, only about half of the previous year's net profit. The Management Board therefore intends to cut the dividend for 2023 from EUR 1.25 in the previous year to 73 cents.

Befesa CEO Javier Molina expects an improvement in 2024: Many of the recent burdens should then ease. The company plans to present final figures for the full year 2023 on March 21. An earnings forecast is expected in April with the figures for the first quarter./mne/ngu/jha/