FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The leasing specialist Grenke did not benefit for long from figures on new business on Wednesday - and properly strained the nerves of its shareholders. With a jump to 23 euros, the share initially continued its recent rapid recovery and remained just below its interim high from November. However, investors lost heart here and, after a price increase of a good 17 percent since the turn of the year, some decided to take profits. The price gain quickly dwindled - after a slide of up to eight percent, the shares of the initial SDax leader lost 2.2 percent in the end.

Analysts, however, took a rather positive view of the figures. Both Marius Fuhrberg from Warburg Research and the experts from Pareto Securities continue to recommend Grenke as a buy. Their price targets of 36 and 35 euros respectively still give the share considerable room for improvement. Last year, it had lost more than a third of its value and even cost more than 100 euros before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic in February 2020.

With a new business volume of 2.3 billion euros, Grenke 2022 reached the upper end of the target range raised in October. The Pareto experts highlighted the strong development in the final quarter. In addition, Grenke exceeded its expectation for the year, which had been at the lower end of the target range at EUR 2.1 billion. The return of growth was very good news for Grenke, he said. Warburg analyst Fuhrberg added that this had been more pronounced than he had expected and that the fourth quarter had been the strongest in the course of the year.

A stock exchange trader also attested to the company's accelerated growth. However, he noted that profitability had deteriorated. Grenke's contribution margin as a measure of operating profit had not increased quite as much as the volume of new business in 2022, which is why the corresponding margin had declined. Responsible for this was not only the company's renewed focus on larger contracts, which are not as profitable, but also rising interest rates. Grenke can only pass these on to its own customers with a time lag.

With a stabilization of interest rates, however, margins should also pick up again, Fuhrberg said optimistically for the future. The outlook for 2023, which is expected as part of the full financial figures for the past year announced in March, should prove a continuation of the growth trend, according to his assessment. The Pareto analysts emphasized the stock's attractive valuation based on their earnings estimates for the new year. They trust Grenke to achieve earnings per share growth of 27 percent per annum by 2027./gl/bek/mis