FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - An "encouraging outlook" from Gerresheimer, according to analysts, gave the share price of the specialty packaging manufacturer a powerful boost on Thursday morning. They took first place in the mid-cap index, the MDax.

With a price jump of 13.6 percent to EUR 102.20, the shares broke out of the range of around EUR 85 to just over EUR 95, in which they had mainly moved since November.

The company's outlook for the financial year 2024 (as of the end of November) is not as bad as feared and the forecasts for 2025 signal a strong acceleration, wrote analyst David Adlington from the bank JPMorgan in an initial reaction.

Gerresheimer CEO Dietmar Siemssen is forecasting organic revenue growth - i.e. excluding exchange rate effects and acquisitions and disposals of parts of the company - of 5 to 10 percent for the financial year 2024. The operating result is expected to reach 430 to 450 million euros organically.

The destocking by customers from the pharmaceutical industry and the virtual elimination of Covid-related sales of injection vials will be particularly noticeable at the beginning of the still young financial year, CFO Bernd Metzner told the financial news agency dpa-AFX. However, excluding these effects, momentum remains good, which should be seen in the second half of the year.

Growth should therefore also pick up again in the medium term. The profitable business with sensitive biopharmaceutical drugs, which require special packaging, also plays an important role. The business with packaging, syringes and auto-injectors for GLP-1 drugs is also picking up speed. These diabetes and weight loss medications are currently booming, especially in the USA.

Against this backdrop, Gerresheimer is targeting organic revenue growth of 10% to 15% in 2025, with an adjusted operating margin of at least 22%. In the medium term, the company is aiming for sales growth of at least 10% and a margin of 23% to 25%.

Analyst James Vane-Tempest from investment house Jefferies was convinced by the medium-term outlook. The market's profit expectations for 2025 are likely to rise, he wrote in a study.

With Thursday's jump in the share price, Gerresheimer shares are also getting a little closer to their record high of almost EUR 123 from September 2023. This had also been reached in the course of the GLP-1 euphoria before the consequences of the destocking by pharmaceutical manufacturers put a damper on the good mood./mis/tih/stk