FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Henkel joined a flood of key data from German companies on Wednesday afternoon. Initially, it was well received that the consumer goods group again raised its target ranges for the operating margin and adjusted earnings per share. The share price rose by up to four percent. However, this was lost again as investors took profits at the highest level since mid-June. Most recently, the shares had slipped 0.3 percent into negative territory. A further approach to the three-year high of 85.74 euros was therefore not possible.

Analyst James Edwardes Jones from the Canadian bank RBC emphasized in an initial reaction that the earnings figures for the first half of the year were above consensus estimates. However, the company's organic sales growth was slightly lower than expected. Henkel had taken the performance as an opportunity to slightly increase its margin and profit target ranges. In terms of sales, however, the targets had remained the same, the expert wrote./tih/he