Germany’s stock market heavyweights are increasingly feeling the effects of the global economic downturn and high energy prices in the country. In the second quarter, some of the DAX companies achieved record sales and profits, according to an evaluation by the auditing and consulting company EY, which is available to the German Press Agency. However, growth slowed down and overall was below the inflation rate of more than 6 percent recently.
Taken together, sales rose by 1.1 percent year-on-year to around 446.2 billion euros, the highest value in a second quarter since the start of analysis in 2014. The operating result (EBIT) of the 40 groups improved overall 2.7 percent to almost 40.5 billion euros – it was the second highest value in a second quarter. 22 companies increased their profits, while 18 companies reported a decline.
difficult to maintain profit levels
“After a very strong previous year, the air has now become very thin for many companies,” said Henrik Ahlers, CEO at EY Germany. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the high level of profits that have been achieved, and many companies are feeling the weak economic development more and more.” In addition, the growth in sales is being more than eaten up by the persistently high inflation, “so that in many cases we are already dealing with negative growth”.
Chemical companies in particular had recently reported falling demand and corrected their expectations downwards. The German car companies, on the other hand, benefited from the decreasing lack of chips with high prices. “But the wind is also increasingly blowing in the face of the automotive industry,” said EY partner Mathieu Meyer. In view of the high inflation, increasing concerns about the economy and higher interest rates, customers are becoming less willing to buy.
According to the information, the German car companies were once again among the most profitable companies in the second quarter. Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz and bmw took first, third and fourth place in the ranking with an operating profit of EUR 5.6 billion, EUR 5.0 billion and EUR 4.3 billion. The Deutsche Telekom came second with 5.2 billion euros.