BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The radiation and medical technology group Eckert & Ziegler is considering a separation from its subsidiary Pentixapharm. This would involve either a complete sale or a spin-off as an independent listed company, the SDax-listed company announced in Berlin on Friday. Eckert & Ziegler is thus concentrating on its core competencies in order to further expand its position as a leading supplier of radioisotopes for the production of radiopharmaceuticals. The news was well received on the stock market.

Following the news in the afternoon, Eckert & Ziegler's share price rose by almost six percent to 34.06 euros, making it the top performer in the small cap index SDax. However, after significant price losses in recent months, it was still trading around 27 percent lower than at the beginning of the year.

Eckert & Ziegler had already held out the prospect of granting external investors access to Pentixapharm when it presented its 2022 annual report. The Supervisory Board has now given its approval to the Executive Board to examine and prepare a spin-off. This would involve up to 100 percent of the shares.

The Supervisory Board is expected to decide in March whether a spin-off or a sale is ultimately the outcome. Until then, the Management Board will hold talks with interested parties and commission appropriate service providers, the statement added. Pentixapharm is to be reported as a discontinued operation as early as the 2023 financial statements.

The company justified the planned separation with an "enormous growth forecast for active pharmaceutical ingredients," which is now already reflected in the order intake. "Our focus is on the production as well as the distribution of isotopes," said CEO Harald Hasselmann. "Here we are the market leader and want to remain so." For that reason, he said, Eckert & Ziegler wants to pool its financial resources to expand its global manufacturing capacity.

The exit from financing the subsidiary loosely addresses a strategic dilemma, said Andreas Eckert, founder, major shareholder and chairman of Eckert & Ziegler's supervisory board. The move allows Eckert & Ziegler shareholders to receive a significant premium on the estimated value of Pentixapharm, he said. Alternatively, there is the possibility of returning capital to shareholders through a special dividend program or a share buyback - or a combination of both.

Eckert & Ziegler had confirmed its annual targets only at the beginning of the week. The company reaffirmed these on Friday. In the third quarter, sales had increased by 15 percent year-on-year to 65.9 million euros as a result of the continuing high demand for radioisotopes for pharmaceutical applications. Net income increased by almost a fifth to 9.4 million euros./stw/ngu/jkr/he