SEVENUM (dpa-AFX) - After strong growth in the first quarter, the online pharmacy Redcare is on course to achieve its annual targets. According to a statement on Thursday, the MDax-listed competitor of DocMorris increased its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted for special effects by around a third year-on-year to 11.7 million euros from January to the end of March. However, this is less than analysts had expected on average. The company invested more money in advertising for electronic prescriptions in Germany, which is a business driver. The share came under pressure.

In the meantime, the share fell to its lowest level since mid-March. Most recently, it was still down just under three percent at 131.40 euros. By the beginning of April, the shares had continued their dynamic recovery of the past year - with an interim high of EUR 153, the share price gains since the end of 2022 amounted to around 250%.

The main driver was the hope of strong business following the introduction of e-prescriptions in Germany. However, the company now has to invest money in advertising, as competitors such as DocMorris are not sleeping.

The bottom line for the first quarter was once again a loss of 7.8 million euros - after a loss of 10.2 million a year ago. As has been known since the beginning of April, turnover rose by around half to 560 million euros, mainly thanks to an acquisition. Without the takeover of MediService, sales rose by just under 19 percent. Group sales of non-prescription products (non-Rx) climbed by a fifth to 404 million euros.

For the year as a whole, Redcare aims to achieve further sales growth of 30 to 40 percent to 2.3 to 2.5 billion euros. Of this revenue, 2 to 4 percent is to be retained as operating profit adjusted for special effects.

The prescription medicines business should also provide a tailwind. Redcare recently received the green light for its digital checkout method for prescription drugs.

Analyst Michael Heider from Warburg Research believes that Redcare is still well positioned to benefit from e-prescriptions. However, it remains to be seen how quickly patients will use the new payment method. Therefore, the short-term expectations of some investors in Redcare may prove to be too high./mis/mne/jha/