More sales and profit, higher dividend
For fiscal year 2023, Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Dräger), based in Lübeck, recently reported a positive development.
The family-owned company, which specializes in medical and safety technology, generated sales of around 3.4 billion euros in 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 13.1 percent compared to fiscal year 2022, when net sales amounted to around EUR 3.0 billion. Dräger recorded net sales growth in both its medical technology and safety technology divisions. As the company explains, both segments benefited from improved delivery capability and a positive order trend in fiscal year 2023.
Higher profitability
Dräger reports that it has also significantly improved its profitability. Accordingly, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased to 166.4 million euros. In 2022, the company still generated a negative EBIT (-88.6 million euros). In terms of the EBIT margin, Dräger announced an increase of 7.8 percentage points - from -2.9 percent in 2022 to 4.9 percent in 2023.
"In 2023, we returned to growth and profitability as promised and even exceeded our original forecast for the year," says Stefan Dräger, CEO of Drägerwerk Verwaltungs AG. In addition to strong sales growth, the profit is also attributable to successful cost management.
According to Stefan Dräger, a significantly higher dividend for 2023 compared to the previous year will be proposed to the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The plan is to distribute a dividend of EUR 1.74 per ordinary share and EUR 1.80 per preference share. This is EUR 1.61 per share more than a year earlier.
Forecast for 2024
According to its press release, Dräger anticipates currency-adjusted net sales growth of 1.0 to 5.0 percent in 2024. The Lübeck-based technology company also expects an EBIT margin of 2.5 to 5.5 percent.
With regard to its forecast, Dräger explains that there were still two effects in 2023 that had a positive impact on net sales and earnings. According to the company, growth and profitability in 2023 were supported by catch-up effects as a result of the improvement in the previously limited delivery capacity. In addition, there was a wave of demand for ventilators in China at the beginning of 2023. According to the family-owned company, these two effects are now missing in the current financial year.