NEU-ISENBURG (dpa-AFX) - The commercial vehicle supplier Jost Werke is expecting weaker business in the current year. Demand in the transportation markets will fall, especially in Europe and North America, the company announced on Tuesday in Neu-Isenburg, Hesse. This could not compensate for the expected higher demand in the Asia-Pacific-Africa region. The management therefore expects a decline in turnover and operating profit. The share price fell.

Jost had already presented preliminary figures for 2023 just over a month ago. These have now been confirmed. The company earned significantly more in its day-to-day business than in 2022. Shareholders are set to benefit from this in the form of a higher dividend. However, the news was not well received on the stock market.

The SDax-listed stock had lost 1.6 percent by lunchtime. The price gains made since the turn of the year have thus been reduced to just under seven percent. The share has been trying to recover since January, following a predominantly downward trend in 2023.

The share had also gone through a few peaks and troughs in previous years: investors who have been invested for three years have seen their share price fall by 10 percent. Shareholders who have been invested for five years, on the other hand, can look forward to a price gain of almost two thirds.

The Jost Management Board anticipates a single-digit percentage decline in turnover for 2024. In 2023, the company generated sales of around 1.25 billion euros, slightly less than in 2022. According to the management, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) are also likely to fall by a single-digit percentage this year, and even more sharply than sales. In 2023, Jost generated an operating profit of 140.8 million euros, an increase of around 14 percent.

In the current year, the operating margin will also decline accordingly, the Hesse-based company also announced. However, it is expected to remain within the strategic corridor of 10 to 11.5 percent. In 2023, it was 11.3%, and CEO Joachim Dürr expects it to be "in the upper half of the range" again this year, as he said in a conference call with analysts.

Analyst Fabio Holscher from Warburg Research was not surprised by the business figures. The outlook for 2024 is also largely in line with expectations, he wrote in the morning.

Shareholders are to receive a dividend of EUR 1.50 per share for 2023. That would be 10 cents more than a year earlier. Experts had expected a slightly higher payout./lew/stw/mis