FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Higher medium-term profitability targets were not enough for investors in Suse to make further gains at a six-week high on Thursday. Overall, the new medium-term targets turned out to be mixed, and so the shares started trading weakly. After a discount of up to seven percent, they finally lost a good four percent. The previous day, they had reached their highest level since December 9. During that time, they had gained around 20 percent.

Statements on the outlook were the main focus of stock market participants when the figures were presented. For the current year, Suse confirmed its previous targets. In the medium term, however, the company is targeting adjusted annual revenue growth in the mid to high tens of percent and an adjusted operating margin (Ebitda) of over 40 percent. According to a trader, Suse is thus focusing more on profitability in the future. However, he already pointed to the good run of the shares as a possible stumbling block.

Expert Charles Brennan of Jefferies Research assessed the medium-term goals in a first comment rather negatively. Previously, one had assumed "over 20 percent" for sales and a gradual increase to the 40 percent for the margin. "We believe this update is a bit of a negative surprise on the revenue side, while few investors are targeting higher margins," the expert wrote in an initial commentary.

Analyst Toby Ogg of JPMorgan also pointed to the mid-term targets as the most important news. He did expect that consensus estimates for operating profit could rise significantly, as the average here is still 35 to 36 percent. However, he qualified that it looks somewhat different for free cash flow. Here, Suse is now only aiming for "more than 80 percent" of the previous year's figure, he mentioned. Previously, there had been talk of a stable or slightly increasing inflow of free cash.

Analysts described the figures presented by Suse for the fiscal year that ended in October as "in line with expectations". Key data for the final quarter of the fiscal year had previously been released./tih/ajx/jha/