LANDSBERG AM LECH (dpa-AFX) - The ongoing easing in the supply of key electronic components has provided further tailwind for catering equipment supplier Rational at the start of the year. As in the previous two quarters, the company was able to reduce its order backlog, said CFO Jorg Walter, according to a statement. "Thanks to the unchanged stable supply situation with electronic components and increased productivity in manufacturing, we almost reached the production level of the fourth quarter of 2022." As these favorable special effects are expected to diminish in the course of the year, the MDax group is sticking to its annual targets. On the stock market, the results met with a positive response.

Rational shares rose to 687 euros on Thursday, their highest level since the spring of 2022, and were still up a good one and a half percent at 672.50 euros at lunchtime. Since the interim low last fall, the price gains have thus added up to around two thirds.

Thanks to better parts supply and higher sales prices, sales in the first quarter rose by a quarter compared to the same period last year to around 282 million euros, as Rational announced on Thursday in Landsberg am Lech. Experts had expected a smaller increase.

Profits also developed surprisingly well. In the first three months to the end of March, the operating result (Ebit) of 66.5 million euros was 39 percent above the previous year. The bottom line was 51.7 million euros, 43 percent more than a year ago. At that time, Rational - like many companies in a wide range of industries - was still clearly suffering from worldwide bottlenecks in electronic chips, as production and logistics had come to a standstill due to the Corona turmoil.

In an initial reaction, analyst Peter Rothenaicher of Baader Bank spoke of a strong sales performance that had led to good profitability. The profit margin before interest and taxes improved by 2.3 percentage points to 23.5 percent in the first quarter.

Rational's business grew particularly strongly in North America at the start of the year, up 41 percent. "As we selectively expand sales activities and our service network in North America, we are reaching more and more customers in the area business there," CEO Peter Stadelmann said, according to the statement. The company is also benefiting from the shortage of skilled workers among its customers. These customers are increasingly relying on the company's steam cookers and combined cooking, frying and deep-frying systems. Rational also grew by 41 percent in Latin America, while in Europe (excluding Germany) and Germany, sales rose by 21 percent and ten percent respectively.

As business grew, Rational also hired employees. With 2450 employees worldwide, around 1400 of them in Germany, a record was reached at the end of March, it said.

In the further course of the year, the company's management expects a continued reduction in the order backlog, which had still been around 200 million euros at the end of March, as well as a normalization of customers' ordering behavior.

"Before the pandemic and supply crisis, order intake and sales revenue were in a similar order of magnitude. We expect this to be the case again in the third quarter," Stadelmann said. For the subsequent quarters, he then expects sales losses to be roughly on a par with the first quarter. In 2023 as a whole, sales should therefore increase by a high single-digit percentage. The operating profit margin, however, is expected to decline slightly from 23.2 percent in the previous year./mis/stw/stk