LEIPZIG (dpa-AFX) - The biofuel producer Verbio is lowering its expectations for the current financial year. The quota prices for ethanol and greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) remain under pressure, the company surprisingly announced in Leipzig on Monday. As a result, the management now expects higher net debt and lower operating profit than recently. The share price closed with a significant loss.

The Verbio share fell significantly after the news was announced. At the close of trading, the share price was down by more than eight percent. As a result, the share was at the bottom of the small-cap index SDax. The downward trend that Verbio shares have been experiencing since August is thus continuing. The price level reached in April 2022 is a long way off anyway: the share has lost around three quarters of its value since then.

According to management estimates, net debt in the 2023/2024 financial year (until the end of June) is now likely to reach EUR 145 to 175 million. At its highest, it could therefore be more than three times as high as in the previous financial year. Verbio had previously forecast 110 to 150 million euros. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are now expected to be only 120 to 150 million euros. Previously, the Executive Board had targeted 200 to 250 million euros for the current financial year.

Compared to the previous financial year, the new forecast represents a sharp drop in profits: at that time, Verbio had earned a good 240 million euros from operations. Even then, the company was nowhere near the level of the 2021/2022 financial year, when it had earned over half a billion euros in its day-to-day business thanks to high sales prices.

Verbio cited the "massive, questionable imports of advanced biodiesel from Asia" last year as the reason for the low quota prices. Prices are not expected to recover in the short term to reach the previous forecast, it said.

The high level of biodiesel imports, particularly from China, has been causing Verbio problems for some time. They are putting pressure on prices on the sales markets. In November, however, the management still expected the situation to improve in the coming quarters.

Verbio intends to present further details on its business development over the past few months with its figures for the second quarter on February 8th./lew/stw/he