LÜBECK (dpa-AFX) - The medical and safety technology group Drägerwerk is once again raising its targets at the end of the year. The SDax-listed company announced on Wednesday evening shortly before the close of trading in Lübeck that both net sales and the operating profit margin (EBIT margin) should be better in 2023 than recently forecast.

Accordingly, Drägerwerk's net sales and earnings in the current fourth quarter have so far exceeded its own expectations. The company cited continued high sales with high-margin products and cost control as the reasons for this.

The company's shares were up 0.8 percent on Thursday afternoon. This means that the Lübeck-based company's shares have increased in value by a good fifth since the beginning of the year. Since the interim high in mid-November, however, the share has lost almost ten percent.

In terms of earnings, the company's management now expects a currency-adjusted increase of more than eleven percent for the current year - which is still more than 8.5 percent in nominal terms. Previously, the upper end of the range of seven to eleven percent was targeted. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) are now expected to exceed four percent. Previously, the management had targeted a corresponding operating margin of two to four percent.

Drägerwerk had already raised its forecast for the operating margin in October due to the positive business development. Drägerwerk benefited from the high order backlog from the previous year.

In 2022, the Lübeck-based company had still suffered severely from supply chain problems and reported an operating loss of 88.6 million euros

at just under 3.05 billion euros. The company was also in the red at the bottom line last year. Dräger plans to publish the preliminary results for fiscal year 2023 in mid-January and the annual report on March 7./lfi/tav/mis