FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Varta's recovery rally, which began the previous day on the back of encouraging news, continued on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the share price had already risen by more than 29 percent and now there was a further jump of 23 percent. Most recently, the shares of the battery manufacturer, which had run into difficulties, were trading at 2.28 euros. Varta had announced the signing of a contract with sports car manufacturer Porsche AG for an investment in the field of large-format lithium-ion cells.

According to a statement on Wednesday, the company and its customer Porsche agreed on a majority stake in the Varta subsidiary V4Drive Battery GmbH. A capital increase is to be carried out at the subsidiary in order to implement the investment. Varta had already announced on Monday that key agreements had been concluded with financiers and investors, marking a further milestone in its restructuring concept. Short-term bridge financing was also announced on Monday.

Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding the restructuring plan, Varta appears to be taking positive steps to stabilize its financial situation, wrote analyst Thomas Wissler of MWB Research. The measures should generally be seen as steps in the right direction to secure the company's future. However, the analyst pointed out that the restructuring plan continues to meet with criticism, above all due to the treatment of existing shareholders, who were ultimately left empty-handed.

For example, the proposed capital reduction to zero without compensation disenfranchises them - a step that has understandably triggered considerable backlash. For the remaining shareholders, the restructuring offers hardly anything. Analyst Wissler therefore maintained his "sell" recommendation with a target price of zero euros./ajx/ag/mis