FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The rail technology group Vossloh has achieved its targets for the past year. "We know our preliminary figures," CFO Thomas Triska told the Borsen-Zeitung (Saturday edition). "It cannot be deduced from this that we are outside the target ranges we recently communicated." As a result, the shares rose slightly on Monday.

In the morning, the shares in the small-cap index SDax rose by just over one percent to 40.90 euros. In the current year, however, they are still down 2.5 percent. Since the end of 2022, the shares have mainly moved sideways in a fairly narrow range around 40 euros.

Vossloh had raised its sales and earnings outlook twice in 2023. The Group is forecasting revenue of between 1.175 and 1.225 billion euros and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between 94 and 100 million euros. In the previous year, Vossloh had achieved sales of €1.05 billion and EBIT of €78 million.

"We assume that we will also report a positive free cash flow for the final quarter of 2023," Triska continued. The fourth quarter is also generally one of the better quarters in the industry in terms of this free cash flow. Despite relatively high investments in 2024 and 2025, he expects free cash flow to grow in the coming years. Despite the investments, however, the company is in a position to sustainably reduce debt. However, net financial debt should only have fallen slightly in 2023.

Not everything is ideal at Vossloh, according to Triska. "But the difficult phase in 2019, in which we had to set up a comprehensive restructuring program, is over. I can say with a clear conscience that all the major issues are behind us. Now it's all about managing growth."

When it comes to takeovers, Triska can best imagine acquisitions in services, i.e. in the area of lifecycle solutions. "On the one hand, the market is very fragmented here, but on the other hand, the rail-related services are very diverse, so we would probably be most likely to make acquisitions in this area."

According to Triska, the savings and reallocations in the federal budget "will not have a noticeable impact on Vossloh". The recession in Germany is also hardly affecting the Group. "We are a company that is only very slightly sensitive to the economy."/he/mis/niw/nas/men