Our Shares

At a glance

The stock markets got off to a restrained start in 2023 before finishing strongly, with some indices hitting record levels in December as interest rate concerns eased. There was a significant level of sector divergence with subdued performance in Life Sciences and Pharma. Consequently, our share price performance was dampened during 2023.

The resilience of our multi-industry business model was demonstrated with Healthcare largely offsetting market-driven challenges in Electronics and Life Science. Despite the financial results, our share price declined by around 20% in the course of the year. Our shares underperformed compared with the DAX^® index of German blue-chip companies, which rose by around 20% over the year. Our share performance correlated strongly to the share performance of the life sciences industry across the year and tracked the index (-3%) until the December evobrutinib announcement. In comparison, the index for the pharmaceutical industry outperformed our shares, rising by almost 5%. The semiconductor industry index rose by around 65% driven by a handful of chip developers and their products for artificial intelligence applications. Our shares closed at € 144.10 on December 29, 2023 (2022: € 180.90).

The first six months were heavily influenced by uncertainties tied to the continued economic recovery, inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions. The Covid-19 pandemic business continued to decline, which created a difficult environment in the life science market. Moreover, customers of the Life Science business sector mainly focused on cash preservation as well as working capital optimization, in light of high interest rates. While the semiconductor market is preparing for artificial intelligence fueled growth, it has not yet translated into volume growth for the materials sector. The existing portfolio of Healthcare had a strong year; however, the negative results of the Phase III trials of evobrutinib had a share price impact in December. Taken together, these factors explain why our share price underperformed the DAX^® and relevant sector indices in 2023.

At approximately 329,000 shares per day, the average daily trading volume of our shares in 2023 was up around 2% on the prior-year figure of around 321,000. This meant our shares bucked the general trend of lower turnover on German securities trading platforms in 2023 compared with the previous year.

Our shareholder structure remained largely stable in 2023 compared with the previous year: Europe continues to account for the largest proportion of the free float at around half, followed by the United States with around 29%. Compared with 2022, the proportion of the value-oriented investors fell slightly in favor of growth oriented investors and GARP (growth at a reasonable price) investors. The top five investors held around 24% of the free float at the end of 2023, up around two percentage points on the previous year.

In 2023, our Executive Board and Investor Relations team held over 1,000 discussions with investors on topics such as strategy, the business model, business performance, corporate governance, and sustainability at our company during investor conferences, roadshows, and conference calls.

Our shares

Share price development from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, in %

Our shares

Dividend development since 2014

Identified investors by region as of November 2023

Identified investors by type as of November 2023