Thanks to being in the black last year, Commerzbank sees itself ready to return to the Dax. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) reached almost 3.4 billion euros in 2022, the institute, which is currently listed in the MDax, announced on Monday based on preliminary figures.
"We have decided to publish Commerzbank's Ebitda for 2022 now in order to enable the companies on the German Stock Exchange to consider us as a successor candidate for Linde in the Dax 40 after two consecutive years without losses "explained CFO Bettina Orlopp.
The news was well received on the stock exchange. Shortly after the start of trading, the Commerzbank share temporarily rose by almost three percent. Since the start of the year, the paper has gained around 15 percent.
Move up for Linde?
The Linde Group withdraws from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The most valuable Dax group to date will therefore be removed from the leading German index on February 27th. Information about the successor should be available on February 17th. One requirement: The company must have achieved positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in at least the two previous financial years.
According to preliminary figures, Commerzbank has succeeded in doing this. In 2020, on the other hand, it was in the red as a result of an expensive corporate restructuring, so that based on the years 2020 and 2021 it would not have met the requirements for inclusion in the Dax. According to the information, the money house also made a profit of a good two billion euros before taxes in 2022. Commerzbank intends to publish its detailed figures on February 16 - based on the preliminary and unaudited annual financial statements.
Commerzbank was relegated from the Dax to the MDax in autumn 2018 because of its severely reduced stock market value. The CEO at the time, Martin Zielke, commented calmly: "In terms of the importance of the bank for the German economy, nothing will change at all." However, membership of the Dax is also a question of prestige: the German stock index is the figurehead of the German economy, especially for international investors.
Wirecard changed the Dax rules of the game
The place of the Frankfurt money house in the first German stock exchange league was taken by the payment service provider Wirecard in 2018, which later flew out of the Dax again due to a balance sheet scandal. As a result, the stock exchange tightened the rules for membership in the leading German index: Only profitable companies are now included in the index, which has been expanded to 40 values since September 2021. Bankruptcy candidates and corporations that do not fulfill their obligation to publish interim reports on time should no longer have any place in the Dax.
Should Commerzbank now climb back into the Dax, the armaments group and auto supplier Rheinmetall would probably lose out. Index experts had seen this as a favorite, mainly because Commerzbank had not yet published any profit figures for 2022.
