Shares at Kinowelt Medien hit an all-time low this week after the German media concern halved profit expectations for this year.

Shares fell 17% to 4.68 Euro on Monday, recovering slightly but then slipped another 2.04% on Tuesday. At the beginning of trading on Tuesday shares were at 4.80 Euro.

The company issued a profit warning after recording a first quarter pre-tax loss of more than Euro 30m. Kinowelt's quarterly report stated that it was unlikely to hit its planned EBIT for this year of Euro 56m and instead was likely to come in below the Euro 25m EBIT posted last year.

Kinowelt cited factors such as the sale of non-voting shares in Alliance Atlantis Communications at the end of January. Earning were also hit by streamlining at the merchandising company Brameier Fanworld and exchange rates.

The group's saving grace was Kinowelt Home Entertainment (KHE), which saw sales increasing in the first quarter by 60% to Euro 19.2m. The subsidiary's EBIT grew 161%.

KHE was boosted by the current boom in the DVD market, selling 880,000 DVDs in Germany alone. The rise represented a five-fold increase over the corresponding period last year.

Kinowelt's license trading division reported sales of Euro 9.2m, down Euro 4.6m from the same period last year.