Analysts: Zooplus set to continue growing in spite of drop in stock price

Following the release of its half-yearly report, the price of shares in the German e-commerce company Zooplus fell by 8.77 per cent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 19 August compared with the previous day. As of 1300 hrs on 20 August, Zooplus shares had fallen by roughly a further 5 per cent.

Analysts surmise that the level of the pretax profit, which rose from January to June 2015 to € 3.6 mio, has disappointed many brokers. Expectations of Zooplus were very high following the rally in the company's share price since last autumn. However, most analysts assume that the company will continue to grow.

It emerged from the half-yearly report that the company, which operated 24 country-specific online shops in Europe at the end of July 2015, had high material expenditure of € 241.9 mio during the first six months, compared with € 175.2 mio in the same period in the previous year. Its net cost of sales margin thus fell from 31.8 to 29.7 per cent.

In the first half of 2015, Zooplus had sales of € 344.1 mio, signifying an improvement in overall performance of 34 per cent compared with the first half of 2014.