(Reuters) - Eurofins Scientific fell on Tuesday on the Paris stock exchange after reporting a lower annual profit than in 2022, driven by a significant decline in revenues from its COVID-19 business.

At 10.07 a.m., Eurofins shares were down 11.01% at 52.18 euros, their biggest session fall in almost a year.

Last year, adjusted Ebitda came to 1.36 billion euros, compared with 1.51 billion in 2022, down 9.9%, while sales fell by 2.9% to 6.51 billion euros.

In a note, Jefferies analysts expressed particular concern at the weak free cash flow, at 626 million euros, and regretted the pronounced reduction in the annual dividend, announced at 0.50 euro per share against a consensus of 0.92 euro.

"The new forecasts for 2024 seem broadly in line with expectations, but are unlikely to bring much confidence," observe Jefferies analysts.

(Written by Gaëlle Sheehan and Blandine Hénault)