No end seems to be in sight for the downward slide of troubled German media concern Kinowelt Medien's shares, which went into freefall yesterday (June 19) on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt. By the close of business, shares in the company stood 25.37% down on the previous day at Euros2.50.

The business news service vwd quoted one trader as saying that "the high turnover suggests that some institutional [investors] are taking their leave here". In his opinion, the pressure on Kinowelt could become even greater in the short term and, in any case, a levelling out was not yet in sight at the moment.

This latest blow to the Kinowelt empire came a day after the management announced at its AGM that it was beginning a restructuring of its business and planned to have its Internet and football merchandising activities "transferred into new strategic partnerships".

As Merck Finck analyst Alexander Kachler noted, "the management and supervisory board are aware of the fact that first of all the investors' trust has to be regained. We believe that things at Kinowelt have started to move in a promising direction. Nonetheless, restructuring will take time and we do not expect to see significant success in the short term. The sale of the disposable companies will not be executed before the end of this year and the terms of those deals will not be favourable to Kinowelt".

In conclusion, though, Kachler argued that, "based on the good position of Kinowelt over the complete media value chain and a strong content portfolio, Kinowelt is in our opinion a candidate for a turnaround in the medium term".

Meanwhile, Highlight Communications' shares slipped by 13.02% to Euros4.01 by close of business because of speculation that European soccer governing body UEFA might decide at the end of this month to take the marketing rights for the Champions League away from Highlight's subsidiary Team Holding.