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At a Glance

Global equity markets posted another year of solid gains in fiscal 2025, led by strong performance in artificial intelligence (AI)- and technology-related stocks. Markets were supported by resilient corporate earnings and stabilizing monetary policy expectations, allowing equities to advance despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Sector performance diverged sharply during the year. Healthcare and life science stocks delivered more moderate returns amid policy-related headwinds and cautious investor sentiment. By contrast, semiconductor stocks rose strongly, supported by improving pricing, a richer technology mix and AI-driven demand, with higher average selling prices outweighing volume effects. Against this backdrop, the performance of our share price reflected the resilience of the company’s diversified portfolio and solid operational execution amid mixed sector dynamics.

The Group delivered moderate organic sales growth in fiscal 2025 in line with its full-year guidance, with operating momentum strengthening over the course of the year. Life Science was the main contributor to organic growth, returning to growth as bioprocessing destocking subsided. Organic sales growth in Healthcare settled at a moderate level, while Electronics experienced a digestion phase with customer fab construction spending, temporarily moderating the otherwise strong underlying demand. Earnings per share pre declined primarily due to an adverse operating result following the acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc., USA.

Our share price fell by about 12.4% over the year, underperforming the DAX^® index of German blue-chip companies, which rose by around 23%. Despite the short-term divergence in performance, the share price continued to track the life science sector, which gained about 4.7%, while the pharmaceutical sector rose about 7.2%. By contrast, the semiconductor industry index advanced by around 42.2%, as participation in artificial intelligence trends broadened. Our shares closed at € 122.60 on December 30, 2025, compared with € 139.90 at the end of 2024.

The average daily trading volume in our shares rose to about 331,000 in fiscal 2025, up roughly 20% from the previous year. Institutional ownership within the free float continued to evolve. Under Nasdaq’s methodology, institutional investors accounted for about 76.9% of the free float. Within this institutional ownership, the share of value-oriented investors rose from 18% to 31%, while the combined share of GARP (growth at a reasonable price) investors and growth-oriented investors declined from 55% to 43%. Europe remained the largest regional source of institutional ownership at 39%, followed by the United States at around 34%. The five largest institutional investors accounted for roughly 28% of institutional free-float ownership, up about three percentage points from the previous year.

In fiscal 2025, the Executive Board and the Investor Relations team held more than 1,000 meetings and discussions with investors through conferences, roadshows and conference calls, covering strategy, business performance, corporate governance, and sustainability.

Our Shares

Share price development from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, in %

Our Shares

Dividend development since 2016

Identified investors by region as of November 2025

Identified investors by type as of November 2025