DAX Dividends Fall

In 2025, the 40 DAX-listed companies will pay out seven percent less than last year, according to a forecast by the Handelsblatt. Shareholders of automakers will be hit particularly hard.

Many DAX shareholders will have to brace themselves for lower dividends for the current fiscal year: According to a forecast by the Handelsblatt, the 40 companies listed on the DAX will collectively pay out €48.5 billion next spring. That would be seven percent less than the previous year.

Of these, 22 companies are expected to further increase their payouts, while eight will cut their dividends. Overall, however, there will be a decline for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. This is primarily due to automakers, whose total dividends are expected to plummet by nearly 35 percent to around 10 billion euros. The reason is falling profits at VW $VOW (+1.65%) , BMW $BMW (-1.74%) and Mercedes $MBG (+0.01%) due to poor sales figures in Europe and, above all, in China, once a booming market.

In contrast, the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas $ADS (+2.47%) , Deutsche Telekom
$DTE (+0.48%) and the defense contractor Rheinmetall $RHM (-1%) are raising their dividends by particularly large amounts. This also applies to Deutsche Bank
$DBK (+2.55%) and Commerzbank $CBK (+1.69%) as well as the insurers Allianz $ALV (+1.32%) , Munich Re
$MUV2 (+0.14%) and Hannover Re
$HNR1 (+0.43%) . The healthcare group Fresenius $FRE (+0.81%) did not pay a dividend in 2023 but is now planning to pay one again.

Commerzbank analyst Andreas Hürkamp sees a shift: “In 2011, the automotive sector replaced utilities as the sector with the highest dividends. Now, after 14 years, it appears that insurers are set to become the new number one among dividend payers on the DAX.”

Handelsblatt