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40 percent average revenue distribution

Fewer than one fifth of DAX, MDAX and TecDAX listed companies distribute at least 50 percent of share revenue to shareholders. By and large, the actual figure is around 40 percent. According to a survey conducted in 2013 by LBBW-Research, 10 DAX-listed companies paid out more than 40% of their net revenue. Leading the non-financial securities was Telekom who drew from its own resources followed by Siemens with 61 percent and E.ON with 58 percent. By contrast, Henkel’s dividend payout of 25 percent up to now makes its share distribution policy far from biased in favour of shareholders. It shares the bottom rung with HeidelbergCement, VW-Vorzüge, Fresenius, Merck, FMC and Conti whose percentage borders on 20. Despite the many increases, the volume of DAX-listed dividends is still lower than the high point of 2008; last year it remained practically locked in at 27.9 thousand million Euros. All told, there was a 5.4% increase year on year in the total amount, now 36.7 thousand million Euros, that German companies paid out as dividends. MDax-listed companies distributed the record amount of 4.85 thousand million Euros, an increase of 37.1 percent. TecDax listed companies doubled their dividend payouts distributing some 1.03 thousand million Euros to shareholders.

Fewer accounting errors

The number of audited accounts containing errors has fallen from 16 to 14 percent- This, however, does not mean that the DPR or Deutsche Prüfstelle für Rechnungslegung, the German Auditing Authority is about to die of boredom. Fewer errors does not mean fewer pains taken. In the 110 cases examined, the independent auditors discovered 15 that contained errors in the final accounts. Many companies were being examined for the second time and were thus familiar with the procedure. At the same time, there was a heightened awareness of the need for the supervisory board and auditing commission to “police the balance sheet”. This emerges all the more clearly in the light of the fall in errors corrected, excluding those repeated, from 16 percent in 2012 to 11 percent in 2013. A survey showed that the errors in the 2012 accounts were not repeated in 2013 and that the DPR instructions were followed. The DPR met the auditors of capital market listed companies again in 2013 to discuss ways of preventing errors.

SHW: revving up

SDax listed SHW AG, supplier to the auto manufacturing industry has had a bright start to the year. According to management, group turnover rose in the first quarter by just under 33 percent to 96 million Euros. The group’s order book is also bulkier by some 80 million Euros for pumps and engine blocks, and by 23 million Euros for brake discs . Furthermore the Baden Wurttemberg based company managed to cut its level of net indebtedness to 3.4 million Euros towards the end of 2013. The board of directors has set its sights on EBITDA between 35 and 38 million Euros.

The company is also active on the world stage and is steadfast in its pursuit of internationalisation. One example is a new research centre in Brampton in Canada that is expected to come on line in April. In another scenario,  SHW is negotiating the supply of engine-oil pumps to a European engine manufacturer’s production facility in China where production is expected to begin in 2015. Furthermore SHW has an assembly line in Brazil where production should commence towards the end of the first quarter. The company has some 1000 staff, and specializes in pumps and engine blocks for trucks and off-road vehicles.

Patrizia: higher revenue on lower turnover

Patrizia AG, a company formerly involved in privatizing homes and apartments, is invoicing less but notching up higher revenues from commission. The board of directors of the SDax listed group is expecting to post between 28 and 41 million Euros EBIT despite a continuing downward trend in items invoiced. The outlook for 2014 is almost 59 million Euros EBIT.

After undergoing reorganization, the company is gradually shedding its property portfolio, and is moving towards the service sector and management of property for third parties. It expects to have divested itself of its last apartments in the course of 2015. The group is pursuing this policy to achieve extra-proportional earnings; every additional property managed generates further commission but with no increase in the cost of personnel. 72 percent of Patrizia AG’s earnings are now generated in this way; the company aims to be almost completely debt-free by the end of 2015.

Patrizia is already offering its clients – some 70 insurance companies and almost 50 savings institutes and banks – a complete range of property management services: seeking, acquisition, management, optimization and sale of property with the focus mainly centred on apartments, retail shops, rest-homes for the elderly, office property and hotels in Germany, Britain, France and Scandinavia.

Pfeiffer Vacuum: recovery from depression

Business prospects for 2014 are looking healthy for vacuum specialist Pfeiffer Vacuum AG. The European semi-conductor market, which uses vacuum technlology in its manufacturing process, is on the way to recovery. According to Pfeiffer’s board of directors, the expected market demand took off later than envisaged. The long-awaited investments in this market should aid Pfeiffer, a small-mid size TecDax listed company, to get back on its feet after the major sales downturns in 2012 and 2013.

The sales target of between 420 and 450 million Euros for 2013 proved to be unrealistic, indeed the company was obliged to cut back to between 400 and 410 million Euros. Revenue is not expected to exceed 38 million Euros – the exact figures will be released in February. For 2014, management has forecast an increase in earnings of over 55 million Euros; indeed, the figure of 64 million Euros has been mooted for 2015.

Employing a staff of over 2200 in Germany, France, South Korea and Romania, the machine-tool manufacturer’s range of products is not limited to turbo pumps but also encompasses turnkey solutions in vacuum engineering for industry and research. Last Autumn, Pfeiffer Vacuum won a bid to take part in the construction of an ITER  nuclear fusion reactor, a major international research project.