FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Surprisingly good key data for the past six months continued to drive the shares of Dermapharm, which had previously performed well, on Wednesday. The papers of the drug manufacturer recently rose by 6.01 percent to 45.54 euros and in the meantime reached the level of the end of June. This also gave them a clear lead in the SDax. The small cap index hardly moved from the spot.

Dermapharm's sales and operating profit slightly exceeded market expectations, wrote the experts at analyst firm Pareto Securities. They highlighted the positive dynamics at the acquired French manufacturer Arkopharma and continue to see the shares as undervalued.

The expert Alexander Thiel from the analysis house Jefferies emphasized that the profitability of Dermapharm in the second quarter was significantly higher than expected. He said that the company had performed strongly in its core business, compensating for the lack of sales of the Corona vaccine from cooperation partner Biontech.

In addition, Thiel praised Dermapharm for now becoming somewhat more optimistic about 2023. However, analysts on average were already expecting both sales and adjusted operating profit to reach the upper end of forecasts this year.

With Wednesday's price jump, Dermapharm's shares have extended their gain since the start of the year to a good 21 percent. The SDax has gained a good 10 percent in this period.

The chart picture has also brightened considerably. The papers jumped above the 21-, 50- and 200-day average lines, which are indicators of short-, medium- and long-term trends./la/ajx/jha/