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Ellwangen (dpa) - After a strong growth spurt in the new year, the battery company Varta is initially making smaller jumps.

The management around CEO Herbert Schein estimates a sales increase of around 8 percent to 940 million euros for 2021, as the MDax Group announced with its preliminary figures.

In the previous year, thanks to the boom in lithium-ion button cells for wireless headphones, Varta had grown by 47 percent if the takeover of the household battery division is factored out.

Analysts had occasionally already noted that the company could possibly disappoint with the sales outlook for the current year due to stronger competition.

Many had revenues of over a billion euros on the slip.

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The Ellwanger shares lost almost 9 percent in morning trading after they had already given way the day before.

And this despite the fact that the preliminary figures from the fourth quarter were even better than analysts expected and the company plans to pay a dividend for the first time since going public in 2017.

In the market turmoil surrounding speculative small investors and hedge funds, the Varta share had risen to new record highs at the end of January, which it was ultimately unable to maintain.

However, day-to-day business continued to run smoothly.

In the past year, Varta benefited primarily from the business with batteries for wireless headphones.

Thanks to the purchase of the household battery division, sales rose by around 140 percent to 870 million euros.

Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased by 145 percent to 239 million euros.

Both sales and operating profit were thus better than previously estimated by analysts and also exceeded the Group's most recent forecast.

The evening before, Varta had announced - as promised - that it would pay a dividend for the first time since the IPO in 2017.

It should be 2.50 euros per share, and the group plans to distribute around 100 million euros to shareholders.

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Varta expects high organic sales growth, the company said.

The demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for more expensive consumer products is still very high.

Varta plans to present the detailed annual report including all financial figures such as net profit on March 31st.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210218-99-492339 / 2