“The dividend per share for 2021 will be the highest Covestro has ever paid,” CFO Thomas Toepfer told the business newspaper Euro am Sonntag, according to the preliminary report. The highest dividend to date was for 2018 at EUR 2.40 per share. According to Toepfer’s statements, at least EUR 2.41 will flow in 2021, which corresponds to a dividend yield of around 4.4 percent at the current price level.
The operating profit for 2021 should be between 3.0 and 3.2 billion euros, Toepfer confirmed earlier forecasts. That would be twice as much as in the previous year. The final results are to be published on March 1st.
Toepfer also sees “great growth potential” in 2022 and 2023. Compared to the development of the gross domestic product, one would “grow much more strongly”. “If the car industry, with which we generate around one-fifth of our sales, starts to recover in the second half of the year, that would be an additional positive factor.” Toepfer expects energy costs to continue to rise in 2022, which the group can pass on. Energy prices accounted for only ten percent of the total costs. He is confident that the overall costs can be kept constant.
The RFM division of the Dutch group DSM, which was acquired in 2020 for 1.6 billion euros, should deliver higher synergies in 2021 than the 20 million euros promised, said Toepfer. “It was important to show that we can integrate larger companies. That is the basis for further similar acquisitions.” At the moment there is “nothing concrete in sight”.
Covestro shares initially fell slightly on XETRA on Friday. In the afternoon, however, it is temporarily 0.15 percent higher at EUR 54.56.
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