BERGISCH-GLADBACH (dpa-AFX) - The investment company Indus Holding has achieved its annual targets, which were lowered in November, in a difficult economic environment. The company now intends to buy back its own shares for up to a good 25 million euros. This was well received on the stock market on Thursday.

Indus' turnover remained stable at 1.80 billion euros in 2023. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose by around 12% to just under 150 million euros, as the company, which is listed in the second-line index SDax, announced on Wednesday evening on the basis of preliminary figures. On average, analysts had expected slightly higher sales but slightly lower profits.

On balance, Indus earned a good 56 million euros in 2023. A year earlier, a loss of 51 million after tax had been recorded. One reason for this was the Group's operational realignment. At the end of 2022, Indus announced that it was repositioning itself with the Engineering, Infrastructure and Materials segments. Investments in the Automotive Technology segment, which are suffering from a sluggish automotive industry, are to be sold.

"The 2023 financial year has shown that our repositioned, future-oriented portfolio is holding up well even in a phase of economic weakness," said CEO Johannes Schmidt. "Our companies generate a strong free cash flow, which gives us the scope to further develop our portfolio in a targeted manner."

In an initial reaction, Nuways analysts also spoke of solid key figures and praised the free cash flow in particular. This almost doubled year-on-year to over 190 million euros.

For 2024, the Indus management expects sales of 1.85 to 1.95 billion euros and an operating result of between 145 and 165 million euros.

The macroeconomic conditions for the company's own investments will once again be challenging in 2024, said the CEO according to the press release. Details on this should be available when the full financial statements for the financial year are published. This is expected to be on March 20.

Indus is now making a public buyback offer to shareholders for up to 1.1 million shares at a price of 23 euros each. The offer is 7 percent above Wednesday's Xetra closing price of 21.50 euros. The offer is valid until March 1 and covers a good 4 percent of the share capital.

Indus shares rose 5.1 percent to 22.60 euros on Thursday morning, one of the top positions in the SDax./mis/niw/jha/