FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Südzucker shares continued their recent downward trend on Thursday. Following quarterly figures, the sugar manufacturer's share price fell by five percent to 12.96 euros, its lowest level since mid-April. Since the interim high on Friday, the shares have already lost more than eight percent. The results for the first quarter underpinned the downward trend with a significant drop in profits.

Analyst Oliver Schwarz from Warburg Research emphasized in an initial commentary that the figures were weaker than he had expected. This was mainly due to a sharp decline in profitability in the core sugar business. Although sales volumes had risen there, prices had been under pressure and production costs had risen due to sugar beet prices.

Schwarz does not expect Südzucker's profit trend to improve in the coming quarters. The company had already announced further declines for the second quarter the previous day. As a result, the shares had already lost up to 4.6 percent in value on Wednesday, although the decline had narrowed towards the end./tih/jha/