FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A strong growth in sales of Redcare Pharmacy thanks to electronic prescriptions sent the online pharmacy's shares on a recovery path on Thursday. After a pronounced price weakness since mid-December, during which the paper lost around 25 percent of its value, the bottoming out may now have been reached.

Late this morning, the stock of the former Corona profiteer rose 4.4 percent to 125.80 euros, after temporarily climbing almost to 130 euros. The day before, the share price had slipped further, reaching a low for the year since September 2024 at 118.40 euros. Since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, investors' hopes have been pinned primarily on e-prescriptions, although their introduction in Germany has proven to be surprisingly difficult and lengthy.

"The sales momentum at Redcare Pharmacy contrasts favorably with the generally rather dismal trends in the online business," wrote analyst Volker Bosse of Baader Bank in an initial reaction. As a result, the company is gaining market share. Bosse particularly emphasized the strong growth in the business with prescription drugs in the German market, which was driven by the market launch of Cardlink in May. The Cardlink solution enables users to redeem e-prescriptions with their electronic health card anytime, anywhere.

Martin Comtesse from Jefferies attributes the strong revenue growth in particular to management's decision in the fall to increase advertising spending. "This has paid off and led to a 142 percent increase in sales of prescription drugs in Germany." In addition, the non-prescription medicines business continued to grow significantly in all regions, particularly internationally. However, since the overall figures largely met expectations, the focus is now on the outlook for 2025, which will be published on March 11.