REGENSBURG (dpa-AFX) - The automotive supplier Vitesco, which is about to be taken over by Schaeffler, made significantly more operating profit than expected in the third quarter thanks to a better performance in its core business. For the year as a whole, the management headed by CEO Andreas Wolf sees a trend towards the upper end of the forecast range for the operating margin. However, with a view to the offer documents from Schaeffler expected on Wednesday, Wolf made it clear that he considers the envisaged price of EUR 91 to be too low from a medium to long-term perspective. Vitesco shares rose by 0.4 percent to 93.10 euros on Tuesday.

The MDax-listed stock is one of the top performers in the index of medium-sized listed companies this year, with a plus of over 70 percent. This is also due to the takeover bid announced by the Franconian automotive supplier - but even before that, Vitesco had made considerable gains since the beginning of the year at a share price of around EUR 75. Despite higher investments, the Group has achieved strong cash inflows, praised Goldman Sachs analyst George Galliers.

Some investors still seemed to be speculating on an increased offer from Schaeffler, Wolf said about the share price development in a video conference on Tuesday. Major investors in Vitesco, such as David Einhorn from financial investor Greenlight Capital, had also publicly vented their anger at what they saw as Schaeffler's offer being too low.

In the medium to longer term, the price is not sufficient in his view, Wolf also said. "In the long term, I believe the share price would have gone well beyond 91 euros," said the manager. He had previously expressed similar skepticism in an interview with "Handelsblatt". Wolf added in the video conference that the Supervisory Board and Management Board of Vitesco would make more detailed comments on their assessment of the situation after receiving the offer document.

Almost 50 percent of the shares in Vitesco already belong to the Schaeffler industrial family, which intends to launch the offer for Vitesco via its automotive supplier with the family name and then merge the companies. In addition, the family has already secured further voting rights via financial instruments, giving it a stake of around 59 percent.

There is no minimum acceptance threshold for the offer, but the merger would require a majority of 75 percent of the voting rights at an Annual General Meeting. Schaeffler CEO Klaus Rosenfeld recently made no attempt to improve the price - the company is on course and sees no need for changes.

The background to the takeover bid is above all the Regensburg-based company's already strong focus on electric car components, where Schaeffler, the transmission and engine parts specialist, still has gaps. Vitesco further reduced its losses in the significantly growing future business with electric car parts during the quarter. Wolf still wants to reach the operating break-even point here next year. Of the EUR 2.5 billion in orders received in the quarter, around 60 percent were for electrification products. The situation also improved in the combustion engine business, which still dominates sales.

In the third quarter, Vitesco was able to increase earnings before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects by almost three quarters to 76.4 million euros compared to the same period last year. Analysts had expected less. The corresponding operating margin increased by 1.5 percentage points to 3.5 percent.

The new CFO Sabine Nitzsche spoke of successfully concluded negotiations to pass on additional costs to customers - this will also be evident in the fourth quarter. In addition, cost reductions of roughly the same magnitude had had an effect. As things currently stand, profitability for the year as a whole is expected to be at the upper end of the forecast range, said Nitzsche. The range for the adjusted operating margin is 2.9 to 3.4 percent. Analysts had previously expected an average of around 3.2 percent.

The Regensburg-based company also made a profit on the bottom line this time. The Group turned the loss of a year ago (-13.8 million euros) into a surplus of 30.3 million euros. However, turnover fell from 2.3 billion euros to 2.2 billion euros. This was mainly due to the planned reduction of non-core business. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, revenue increased by 1.1 percent.

Due to weaknesses in China and exchange rate effects, Nitzsche now expects the annual profit to be at the lower end of the annual range of EUR 9.2 to 9.7 billion. The management confirmed the medium-term targets. The growth ambitions for electrical products are covered by orders, said Wolf./men/mis/stk