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FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX Broker) - A surprising increase in profits in the final quarter of 2023 and ultimately a more optimistic profit target for 2024 gave the ProSiebenSat.1 share a strong boost on Wednesday. The media company's share price rose by almost ten percent to EUR 6.17 in early trading. For the time being, however, it remains within the range of the past few months of around EUR 5 to around EUR 6.5.

ProSieben had announced an increase in adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) in the fourth quarter the previous evening, exceeding both its own and the market forecast.

As the SDax company maintained its 2024 target of adjusted EBITDA at the previous year's level, this also means slightly more positive expectations for the current year.

This has been well received overall: Analysts such as those from UBS praised the "strong key figures". Analyst Daniel Kerven from the bank JPMorgan expects that the consensus estimates for 2024 will now rise slightly due to the improved outlook.

Concerns about weak business have weighed heavily on the shares in the past two years. In 2022, they fell by 40 percent, in 2023 by around a third./ck/mis