FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Investors at Aurubis looked past the mixed quarterly results on Tuesday. At 2.7 percent, the shares were recently a clear MDax winner, although the copper group had started the new fiscal year with a drop in profits. In initial reactions, the share price fell to a low since November 2022 at EUR 62.40. But then investors pounced. Most recently, EUR 66.16 was paid for the shares.

Although analysts saw the operating pre-tax profit slightly below market expectations, Aurubis' outlook for this year was confirmed. As Dirk Schlamp from DZ Bank wrote in an initial commentary, the quarterly figures were not expected to have a significant impact on the annual forecast, especially as the financial year had only just begun.

Christian Obst from Baader Bank emphasized that the results were not a driver for the shares. Rather, the uncertainty about the future of the top management is the decisive issue in the short term. As has been known since January, almost the entire Management Board is being replaced as a result of fraud and theft losses running into millions. The successors to Group CEO Roland Harings, CFO Rainer Verhoeven and Chief Production Officer Heiko Arnold have not yet been appointed. The cases had led to criticism of the company's risk management.

With confirmations of their buy recommendations, Obst and Schlamp are optimistic about the future. "We confirm our positive long-term assessment of the Aurubis business model," wrote the Baader expert. "Opportunities arise from rising metal prices and the expansion of recycling activities in the USA, where the ramp-up is initially a burden, however. In addition, we believe that the key drivers of copper demand are intact," wrote DZ Bank expert Schlamp.

The shares of steel group Salzgitter, which holds around 30 percent of Aurubis, were also in high demand among investors on Tuesday. A buy recommendation from the private bank Metzler provided a tailwind here./tih/mis