Crisis prompts German fund group HCI to cut outlook

FRANKFURT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - German investment funds provider HCI Capital (HXCIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) cut its outlook for 2008 equity placements and earnings, citing a "dramatic worsening" of the financial markets crisis in October. HCI now expects full-year equity placements of 650-750 million euros ($892 million-1.03 billion), down from 880 million euros expected earlier, the company said in a statement released after the German stock market's close on Friday.

HCI downgraded its forecast for the 2008 result after taxes to a loss of between 9 million and 13 million euros from an earlier forecast of break even.

Market consensus was for HCI to post a 2008 net profit of 0.9 million euros, according to Reuters Estimates.

"Given the dramatic worsening of the crisis affecting the banking sector since early October, with further intensified financial market volatility, investors currently facing significant uncertainty have been generally reluctant vis-a-vis any form of investment products," HCI said. (Reporting by Peter Starck, editing by Mike Peacock)