Our Shares

At a glance

The stock markets were again subject to considerable uncertainty in 2022. Geopolitical turmoil, inflation, and the energy cost crisis were the most important factors depending on the respective industry. Accordingly, our share price also fluctuated substantially over the course of 2022.

The first months of the year were dominated by the uncertainty caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which adversely affected investor expectations in the Electronics business sector in particular. The Life Science business sector was also impacted by the uncertainty resulting from the contraction in business with products for combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Taken together, these developments meant that our share price underperformed relative to the DAX^® and the sector indices. However, most of this shortfall was recovered by the middle of the year thanks to the Group’s relatively low energy intensity and the pronounced resilience of its business model.

The four sets of good quarterly figures we reported in 2022 in spite of the challenging market environment only served to offset the uncertainty on the market to a limited extent. Our share price declined by around 20% across the year as a whole. This meant it underperformed compared with the DAX^®, which fell by around 12% on a full-year basis. The index for the pharmaceutical industry considerably outperformed our shares, rising by almost 2%. The index for the chemicals industry also performed slightly better than our shares with a fall of around 17%. However, the indices for the semiconductor industry (-36%) and the life science industry (-23%) performed worse than our shares. Our shares closed at € 180.90 on December 30, 2022 (2021: € 227.00).

At approximately 321,000 shares per day, the average daily trading volume of our shares in 2022 was down around 7% on the prior-year figure of around 346,000. This meant our shares followed the general trend of lower turnover on Germany’s securities trading platforms in 2022 compared with the previous year. The uncertainty on the financial markets may have generally made investors more reluctant to trade in shares.

Our shareholder structure remained largely stable in 2022 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 2021, there was a slight shift away from growth investors in favor of value investors and GARP (growth at a reasonable price) investors, who combine growth and value investing attributes. The four biggest investors, who each exceed the threshold of 3%, currently hold around 19% of the free float cumulatively.

In 2022, the company’s Executive Board and the Investor Relations team held around 1,000 discussions with investors on topics such as strategy, the business model, business performance, corporate governance, and sustainability at the company during investor conferences, roadshows, and conference calls.

Our Shares

Share price development from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, in %

Our Shares

Dividend development since 2013

Identified investors by region as of November 2022

Identified investors by type as of November 2022