NEU-ISENBURG (dpa-AFX) - Truck supplier Jost Werke 's growth in the past quarter was noticeably slowed by the stronger euro. Exchange rate effects consumed more than half of the increase in sales, as the company announced in Neu-Isenburg on Monday. By contrast, the company made more dynamic progress in terms of profitability. Group CEO Joachim Dürr confirmed the annual forecasts. The share price fell.

The stock, which is listed in the small cap index SDax, lost 1.8 percent to 46.30 euros in the morning. At the end of July, it had marked its high for the year to date at over 53 euros. Below a price of 45.90 euros threatens a low since November.

In the second quarter, earnings grew by 2.6 percent to 330.4 million euros. Currency effects had a significant negative impact, without which Jost would have posted 6.4 percent growth. The only real momentum came from business in the Asia-Pacific-Africa region. In Europe in particular, by far the largest contributor to sales, earnings came under pressure. Good demand for truck components only just compensated for the decline in agricultural front-end loaders, it was reported. Meanwhile, more stable supply chains and falling freight costs drove results.

The Group's operating profit before interest, taxes and special items rose by 16.3 percent to 37.3 million euros, significantly more than sales. At 11.3 percent, the corresponding margin was 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Below the line, profits rose from 16.2 million euros to 20.9 million euros.

For the current year, CEO Dürr continues to expect sales to grow in the low single-digit percentage range compared to the previous year's figure of 1.26 billion euros. Operating earnings are expected to develop in line with this. The operating profit margin is expected to increase slightly compared to last year's figure of 9.8 percent./men/mne/jha/