Vonovia expects sales to rise in 2023 at slower rate

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German housing giant Vonovia expects sales to increase in 2023, it said on Thursday, although by less than the rise of a fifth in 2022.

The group expects sales of between 6.4 billion and 7.2 billion euros ($6.8-$7.6 billion), compared with 6.26 billion euros in 2022.

It also said it would propose a dividend of 0.85 euros per share for 2022, roughly half of the 1.66 euros in 2021.

Core profit (EBITDA) is forecast at 2.6 billion to 2.85 billion euros following 2.76 billion last year, which was an increase of 22.6%.

"We are confident that we will maintain our robustness and use it positively in the interest of all our stakeholders," Chief Executive Rolf Buch said.

($1 = 0.9442 euros)

(This story has been corrected to change 2021 dividend to 1.66 euros, not 1.69 euros, in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; editing by Barbara Lewis)