FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Industrial services provider Bilfinger impressed investors on the stock exchange on Monday with a significant increase in profits in the second quarter of the year. A trader nevertheless spoke of light and shade in the quarterly figures. The shares rose to as high as €33.78. In the course of the morning, however, they then fell back below the 21-day average line as well as below the 200-day line, indicators for the short- as well as for the longer-term trend. Nevertheless, at a price of 32.68 euros, there was still a gain of just under six percent. The papers thus attempted to tick off the downward trend that began at the end of June. The annual gains now add up to more than a fifth again.

At the end of June, analyst Gregor Kuglitsch from the major Swiss bank UBS had expressed confidence in Bilfinger in a study, highlighting the medium-term potential for the operating profit margin (Ebita margin). However, the resulting share price rally to €36.60 did not last. By the end of last week, the share price had gradually fallen by 16 percent to 30.76 euros.

With the second quarter report presented this Monday, Bilfinger convinced with its operating profit and thus also with its operating profit margin, a trader explained in the morning.

The company, which is listed on the small-cap index SDax, increased its earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation on the enterprise value by a good third year-on-year to €43 million. The main contributors to this were the plant engineering and maintenance business in Europe, but also the business with larger plants. The margin thus improved to 3.9 percent. In 2023, the margin is expected to remain at 3.8 to 4.1 percent.

However, the strong profit development contrasted with order intake, which fell somewhat year-on-year, the trader pointed out. Order intake had been below sales in the second quarter, which might not be to the liking of all investors./mis/la/stk