FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The shares of United Internet and its subsidiaries 1&1 and Ionos reacted differently to the presentation of figures on Wednesday. The Internet company United, listed in the MDax, recorded a plus of 1 percent. In contrast, the shares of the telecommunications subsidiary 1&1, which is listed in the second-line index SDax, fell by 0.4 percent. The recently record-hungry shares of web hosting specialist Ionos, one of the weakest SDax stocks, lost 6.9 percent.

United Internet posted a jump in profits in the first quarter thanks to the profitable business of its two subsidiaries. However, increased depreciation, particularly on investments in the expansion of the fiber-optic and mobile networks, caused 1&1's operating profit to fall. UBS analyst Polo Tang commented that United had disappointed in terms of sales and, above all, operating profit (EBITDA), but that the business trends were encouraging.

With regard to 1&1, Bernstein expert Ulrich Rathe criticized: "Slow customer growth, high costs - and not a word about the elephant in the room." The key question is how management would react to an extension of frequency licenses for other operators if there is no regulatory support for 1&1's attempt to gain access to the low-band spectrum.

Ionos had achieved a surprisingly high operating profit at the start of the year despite slower growth than recently. However, sales fell short of expectations. At up to 25 million euros, a share buyback program, which is intended in particular to encourage employee participation, was too small to encourage investors to make further purchases./gl/jsl/he