Analysis of quarterly reports
EY: Dax companies defy global bottlenecks
The writing “DAX” on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The corona crisis is still keeping Germany in suspense, and a lack of material on the world markets is slowing down many companies. Nevertheless, Germany’s top corporations do the best business.
Germany’s stock market heavyweights ended the third quarter with record results despite delivery bottlenecks and raw material shortages.
Both the total turnover (plus 8.6 percent) and the operating profits (plus 152 percent) of the 40 companies listed in the German stock index were in some cases significantly higher than the values of the same period of the previous year, as the consulting and auditing company EY has calculated. Since September 20, the first German stock exchange league has 40 instead of 30 members, EY has also adjusted its calculations accordingly with retrospective effect.
According to EY information on Friday, company revenues totaled a good 380.5 billion euros, while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached just under 35.7 billion euros. According to the information, in both cases it is the highest value for a third quarter since the evaluation began in 2012.
“Interruptions in the supply chain, sharply rising logistics and material costs, delivery problems with raw materials and components and the resulting cutbacks in production are troublesome for companies,” said Henrik Ahlers, Chairman of the EY Management Board. “Nevertheless, the vast majority of top German corporations managed to stay on course in the third quarter.” The international positioning and the concentration on high technology and premium segments are paying off.
However, the outlook remains uncertain
In view of the ongoing pandemic, however, EY partner Mathieu Meyer warned: “Further production downtimes and logistics disruptions could trigger domino effects and thus affect other industries.”
The highest quarterly operating profit among the 40 groups came in the third quarter of 2021, according to Deutsche Telekom with around 3.5 billion euros, followed by the insurer Allianz with an EBIT of 3.2 billion euros. The car manufacturers Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen took third to fifth place – even though the lack of chips slowed the automotive industry.
26 of the companies were able to increase their operating profit compared to the same period of the previous year, while 10 corporations had lower profits. According to EY, no operating profit information was available for the other 4 companies. In terms of sales, only 3 of the companies reported declines.