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Demonstration of the citizens' movement Finanzwende more than a year ago: criticism of dividend payments after state aid programs for the corporations
Photo: Jens Schicke / imago images / Jens Schicke
According to a study, stock exchange companies in Germany want to pay record dividends to their shareholders.
The companies from the HDax are likely to pay out the maximum value of a good 57 billion euros for the 2021 financial year.
This is shown by an evaluation by DZ Bank.
That is around a third more than for the crisis year 2020, where the total amounted to 42.5 billion euros.
The HDax includes the companies from the Dax, MDax and TecDax.
The German stock market has finally left the Corona low behind, the authors write.
After many companies had cut dividends during the pandemic, more than 60 percent of the companies observed would now increase profit distributions for 2021 - despite many new risks, such as high inflation, supply bottlenecks and the Ukraine war.
In the case of listed companies, the shareholders decide on the dividend at the general meeting – but that is a matter of form.
Dividend kings build cars
According to the study, the lion's share of dividends comes from the automotive, industrial and insurance sectors, which alone account for more than half of the profit distributions.
Only four percent of HDax members wanted to cut their dividends.
Dividends are evidence of sustainably successful business models, write the authors of DZ Bank.
They therefore remain an essential part of long-term asset accumulation for investors.
According to the analysis, the car companies dominate the largest dividend payers for 2021: The Mercedes-Benz Group is the frontrunner with 5.3 billion euros, followed by the insurer Allianz (4.4 billion euros), BMW and Volkswagen (3.8 4.4 billion each). euros) and Siemens (3.2 to 4.4 billion euros).
The dividend study by the investor protection association DSW and the Institute for Strategic Finance at the FOM University, which was presented around a month ago, came to the conclusion that the Dax 40 companies alone pay more than 50 billion euros in dividends.
That is 47 percent more than in 2021. According to this evaluation, the majority of the dividends paid by Dax companies are attributable to the automotive industry.
Such high dividend payments are repeatedly met with criticism, especially in years when many companies were supported by government measures.
Even in the second Corona year 2021, many companies registered short-time work, received bridging aid or other state aid financed by taxes.
mamk/dpa
