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Four DAX companies among the top 50 value destroyers in 2012

Shareholder association Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW) puts four DAX companies on the losers list last year in its recent survey, twice as many as in the previous cycle. Since it was not easy for large banks in recent years, number 20 for Commerzbank is not a big surprise. The same applies to E.ON (35th place) and RWE (40th), for which the nuclear phase-out and renewable-energy boom devastated the balance sheets. According to WatchList the energy company lost 71 per cent of market value in the last five years, while the price of RWE declined by 67 per cent.  The price of METRO also went into a tailspin. These four corporations destroyed the largest values in absolute terms, while the battered solar sector burned the most of its shareholders’ capital percentagewise.  With almost 92 per cent loss in the past year, the insolvent Centrotherm heads the inglorious list of “biggest capital destroyers” in Germany. The second place goes to the former flagship of the photovoltaic industry, SolarWorld, which in 2012 cost its shareholders a good 68 per cent. Third-biggest value destroyer was the Bavarian industry representative Phoenix Solar, which in the past three years forfeited 97.5 per cent of its market value, and in the past year at least 57.5 percent.