MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Due to the sharp decline in demand for Covid tests, business at laboratory services provider Synlab continues to limp along. In the second quarter, sales fell by a good 15 percent in comparison to around 670 million euros, as the company announced in Munich on Wednesday. The corresponding quarter of the previous year was still strongly affected by the Omicron wave of the Corona virus, it continued.

In addition, rising energy prices and higher wage costs put pressure on earnings. As a result, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for special effects, slumped by a third to just under 114 million euros. Shareholders received an adjusted profit of only 25 million euros, compared with 93 million euros a year earlier. Group CEO Mathieu Floreani confirmed the annual forecast, which had been lowered months ago, but nevertheless sees Synlab continuing on its successful course. The company's own growth initiatives have recently made an unexpectedly high contribution to business development. The laboratory chain has meanwhile initiated a cost-cutting program and, among other things, divested activities in Switzerland./tav/men