LEIPZIG (dpa-AFX) - High costs for raw materials and energy have increasingly burdened biofuel producer Verbio in recent months. Although higher prices in North America for biodiesel and ethanol and a slight increase in production resulted in higher sales in the months of January to March, profitability suffered. In the important European market, sales prices have been falling for months. According to Verbio, counterfeit certificates from China also play a role. After the management had already lowered the annual forecast two weeks ago, the share's slide had accelerated, now there was an attempt at recovery.

In the morning, the share, which is listed on the SDax, was up by almost five percent at times; most recently, it was up by two and a half percent. Since the turn of the year, however, the share price has fallen by more than 45 percent.

In the months from January to March, the operating margin amounted to 9.7 percent, as the company announced on Thursday in Leipzig when presenting its figures for the third quarter of fiscal 2022/2023 (until the end of June). In the previous quarter of the year, the margin was slightly better at ten percent, but even then it was not comparable to that of a year ago. At that time, almost 30 percent of sales remained as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). At that time, Russia's war against Ukraine had driven up prices for many raw materials.

The trends of the second quarter have now continued, it was now said on Thursday by the Leipzigers. At the bottom line, Verbio earned 22 million euros in its third fiscal quarter, more than 80 percent less than a year earlier.

One of the reasons for the price pressure, according to Verbio CEO Claus Sauter, is biodiesel imports from China, which - experts suspect - are not actually biodiesel at all. According to the company, efforts are underway to develop EU-wide and national solutions to combat the misuse of certificates. The certification body has already revoked five certificates in recent weeks, Sauter said. He appealed to mineral oil companies to also react and stop using misclassified palm oil-based biodiesel. In addition, Sauter had criticized massive imports of Brazilian and U.S. ethanol at dumping prices in February.

In the fiscal year, Verbio is aiming for an operating profit of 240 million euros, according to the outlook that was lowered at the end of April, which would more than halve it compared to the previous year. After nine months, the figure now stands at 213.5 million euros. Previously, management had held out the prospect of 300 million euros. In mid-2022, sales prices were still at a higher level, so the decline in earnings for the full year would be somewhat mitigated by this./lew/knd/mis