Capital News

Daimler posts a sharp increase

Daimler AG has released its interim results for the second quarter of 2016. There was a particular focus on the company's EBIT performance. Group EBIT adjusted for special reporting items rose to EUR 3.98 billion from EUR 3.76 billion in the same period of 2015. At the Mercedes-Benz Cars division, however, EBIT eased from EUR 2.23 billion to EUR 2.2 billion. At Daimler Trucks EBIT fell from EUR 717 million to EUR 661 million, while Mercedes-Benz Vans posted an increase to EUR 462 million from EUR 238 million under this heading. At Daimler Buses EBIT improved from EUR 57 million to EUR 89 million. Daimler Financial Services posted a slight rise from EUR 445 million to EUR 479 million, while reconciliation EBIT was unchanged at EUR 73 million.

Wacker Chemie: strong growth prospects

Peter Spengler, an analyst at DZ BANK, again issued a SELL recommendation for the specialty chemical firm Wacker Chemie AG in his latest report but reduced its fair value from EUR 101 to EUR 94. According to Spengler, the Munich-based company's polysilicon business is still in a transitional phase due to depressed prices and low utilisation in the US. Spengler advises investors to factor in the company's good growth prospects from 2017, however, and to take positions accordingly. With subsidiaries and sales offices in 28 countries, Wacker is active in the US, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Still no dividend at Zalando

Zalando, Europa's largest online fashion retailer, will continue to refrain from paying a dividend. "We are likely to continue to invest our profits in growth in the coming years," announced Management Board Member Rubin Ritter at the company's Annual General Meeting. Zalando has been listed on the stock market since autumn 2014 and was added to the mid-cap MDAX index in 2015.

Deutsche Telekom saves a billion

The decision of many shareholders not to take a cash dividend has enabled Deutsche Telekom to make a EUR one billion saving. Investors holding 40.9 per cent of Deutsche Telekom opted for a dividend payment in shares instead of cash this year. Last year, however, the proportion of shareholders opting for a dividend payment in shares was even greater at 49 per cent. The dividend of 55 cents per share for 2015 will entail a total outlay of EUR 1.49 billion in cash. For 26.7 old shares shareholders now receive one free share - at the current share price of EUR 14.56 this is worth 55 cents. The issue of a total of 70 million new shares increases the company's subscribed capital by 1.5 per cent.

RTL increasing strongly

RTL posted improved earnings for the first quarter of 2016, driven by its broadcast business and production arm. Reported Group revenue rose by 9.5 per cent to EUR 1.430 billion. Reported EBITA was up by 18 per cent at EUR 229 million while net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders grew by 30 per cent to EUR 138 million. The beneficiary was Bertelsmann, which owns 75% of RTL. The media group's operating profit grew by eight per cent to EUR 500 million while its net profit climbed 30 per cent to EUR 185 million.

Thyssenkrupp with huge drop in sales and profits

Thyssenkrupp reported a first-half profit of EUR 37 million, down 62 per cent year on year. Its sales fell by eight percent to EUR 19.4 billion.

Krones has grown

Krones AG has held its 36th Annual General Shareholders' Meeting in Neutraubling. Representation of the company’s share capital at the meeting came to around 83%.

Executive Board Chairman Christoph Klenk and Chief Financial Officer Michael Andersen reported to the shareholders present on a very successful 2015 financial year overall. Krones achieved all key financial performance indicators last year and posted further profitable growth. The outlook for the current financial year is also positive overall. Revenue is expected to advance by 3% in 2016, with Krones targeting a repeat of last year's EBT margin of 7%. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting a dividend of EUR 1.45 per share for the 2015 financial year, EUR 0.20 higher than last year, to distribute an appropriate portion of profits to shareholders. The Meeting approved the proposal by a large majority. The payout corresponds to 29% of consolidated net income for 2015 and is therefore at the upper end of the target corridor of 25% to 30%.

The reappointments of Philipp Graf von und zu Lerchenfeld, Norman Kronseder and Hans-Jürgen Thaus as Supervisory Board Members were approved by the Annual Shareholders' Meeting. The company's shareholders also approved the appointment of Prof. Dr. Susanne Nonnast as a new Supervisory Board Member. This law graduate, a Professor at the East Bavarian University of Applied Science in Regensburg, is the second woman, after Petra Schadeberg-Herrmann, to represent shareholders on Krones’ Supervisory Board.

In addition, the AGM elected Volker Kronseder to the Supervisory Board. From 1996 to the end of 2015, Volker Kronseder was the company’s Executive Board Chairman, and he will continue to exercise responsibility at Krones AG on the Supervisory Board.

Heidelberger achieves turnaround

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG achieved a EUR 100 million turnaround in its result – from €-72 million to €28 million – in its 2015-2016 financial year (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016). The company therefore attained its target of a significant increase in annual net profit. Its performance shows that the company's strategic reorientation is having an effect.

"Heidelberg is once again making profits and looking ahead with confidence," said CEO Gerold Linzbach. "The last financial year marks a turning point in our strategic reorientation process”.

Sales increased to EUR 2.512 billion in 2015-2016 (previous year: EUR 2.334 billion), After adjustment for exchange rate movements (EUR 2.426 billion), growth was within the expected range at around 4 percent. A good final quarter in the period under review took incoming orders beyond the previous year’s figure of EUR 2.434 billion to EUR 2.492 billion EBITDA excluding special items in the reporting period totaled EUR 189 million (previous year: EUR 188 million, including special items amounting to some EUR 50 million). This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 7.8 per cent (previous year, excluding special items: 5.9 per cent) of sales adjusted for exchange rate movements. This led to a positive net result after taxes of EUR 28 million (previous year: EUR -72 million).

Following these successful annual figures, Heidelberg is continuing its policy of further optimising its financing structure and reducing its future interest burden. Given its stable liquidity position, the company opted for early redemption of the approximately EUR 50 million still outstanding on its high-yield bond - in full and ahead of schedule from cash on hand - in early summer. The bond has a coupon rate of 9.25 percent and was originally due to mature in 2018.

"Heidelberg is back in the black and is on a sound financial footing," said CFO Dirk Kaliebe. The reorganisation of our financing structure with further falling interest costs provides the basis for the company’s future strategic development."