Our Shares

At a glance

On the whole, the performance of our shares in 2020 was characterized by a strong increase in value of 33%. The shares started the year trending upward before entering a rapid downward movement from February 21 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which also affected the relevant indices. The shares bottomed out on March 18. While the pharmaceutical industry index performed slightly better during this period (-16% as of March 18), our shares (-23% as of March 18) developed better than the relevant reference index for the chemical industry (-28% as of March 18) and considerably better than the DAX^® (-36% as of March 18).

With the subsequent turnaround in the second, third and fourth quarters, our shares enjoyed resilient development despite the global uncertainty in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the share price was boosted by positive development in the Life Science sector, the rapid recovery of the Healthcare sector and the sustained strong performance of the semiconductor business in the Performance Materials sector.

The shares closed 2020 up on the relevant reference indices, which saw differing development over the course of the year. With its share price rising by 33.2%, we narrowly outperformed the S&P 500 Life Sciences Tools & Services Index, which saw growth of 32.8% in the same period. Our shares clearly outperformed the DAX^® reference index, which rose by 4% over the period as a whole, as well as the relevant reference index of the chemical industry, which saw full-year growth of around 8%. By contrast, the pharmaceutical industry index fell by around 8% in 2020, meaning it was outperformed by our shares by 40 percentage points in the same period.

Despite the restrictions that were in place in 2020, the Executive Board and the Investor Relations team gave in-depth briefings in largely virtual form to more than 750 investors at investor conferences, as well as during roadshows and conference calls.

The average daily trading volume of our shares rose by around 13% year-on-year, from approximately 505,000 to just over 569,000 in 2020. Europe accounted for the largest proportion of the free float in 2020, with its share increasing by 5 percentage points to 46%. By investor type, growth investors and value investors dominated, as in the previous year. In 2020, the proportion of growth investors at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, remained broadly unchanged year-on-year at 33%. As in 2019, the top five investors at the end of 2020 cumulatively held around 24% of the free float.

Our shares

Share price development from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, in %

Identified investors by region as of November 2020

Identified investors by type as of November 2020