STÜHLINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Insulation and paint manufacturer Sto expects less business this year, partly due to the bad weather. Sales are likely to reach only 1.76 billion euros instead of the previously targeted 1.91 billion, the SDax-listed company surprisingly announced in Stühlingen on Tuesday. Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit), however, are expected to be between 118 and 143 million euros, as planned. Sto is excluding charges resulting from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine from both key figures. In addition, management now expects lower investments than previously thought.

On the stock exchange, the news triggered only a brief slide in the share price. Around midday, the Sto preference share was up 1.4 percent at 131.40 euros and developed somewhat more strongly than the small cap index SDax. However, the share has lost almost a third of its value since its high in May. At that time, the company had already reported a weak start to the year. Compared to the turn of the year, the share has lost around 13 percent in value.

Bad weather in Western Europe continued to cause the company problems until mid-May. This was also reflected in the business figures for the first half of the year. After Sto had achieved the highest sales in its history a year earlier, also thanks to the good weather, the revenue in the first six months of 2023 fell by just under four percent to a good 856 million euros. The frequent precipitation and in some cases low temperatures had a particularly negative impact on business with facade systems, it was said in explanation.

Sto also had to shoulder higher costs. Because prices for energy-intensive raw materials such as cement continued to rise, earnings before interest and taxes even fell by a good nine percent to around 58 million euros. Before taxes, the company was also left with a profit of around 58 million euros, almost eight percent less than a year earlier.

Profit after tax fell by just under nine percent; Sto did not provide an absolute figure for this. For the first half of 2022, the company had reported a profit of 44 million euros here. This time, the figure should have been around 40 million euros. Sto plans to publish its full half-year report on August 31.

It is already clear: Sto will invest less money this year than previously planned. From today's perspective, investments are likely to reach around 50 million euros and will not exhaust the planned budget of 71 million, the statement said. The company justified this primarily with time delays in various major projects and measures to safeguard earnings./stw/mne/jha/