WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) - Carbon fiber specialist SGL Carbon benefited in the first quarter primarily from strong demand from the semiconductor industry. In the three months from January to March, revenue and operating profit rose year-on-year. The group announced this in Wiesbaden on Friday, confirming its forecast for the current year. For investors, this was probably not enough: The Hessian share was punished in the morning with a minus of more than four percent. Only in March, the share price had climbed to its highest level since November 2021.

Experts had already expressed dissatisfaction with the current outlook before the figures were presented. Earlier this week, analyst Lars Vom-Cleff of Deutsche Bank had written that the restructuring of the group should gradually bear fruit. He considered the company's 2023 forecast for operating profit (Ebitda) to be conservative, and the targeted sales merely at a stable level also demanded explanations.

In terms of sales, management again expects a high of around 1.14 billion euros in 2023. Adjusted operating profit (Ebitda) is expected to be between €160 million and €180 million.

In the first quarter, SGL Carbon was able to increase its sales in three of four business units. The carbon fiber business did not perform well at the beginning of the year. The decline was due to the scheduled expiry of the supply contract for the BMW i3 electric car in the middle of last year, according to the Group. Since the second half of 2022, the Group had been compensating for freed-up capacities with orders from the wind industry. There, construction is currently stalled due to low building permits and high manufacturing costs.

Group sales in the first quarter of the year increased by around 5 percent year-on-year to just under 284 million euros. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) improved by 9 percent to around 40 million euros, also thanks to improved capacity utilization. At €15.3 million, the bottom line was lower than in the previous year. SGL Carbon attributed this to positive special effects in the previous year./knd/men/stk