The company wants to improve and expand activities in core areas such as medical and measurement technology and semiconductors, the CEO said in an interview with the German weekly newspaper published on Sunday.

"We have the necessary means to do so," Kaschke said. "Zeiss is free from debt and can shoulder a larger financing volume without problems. With this, larger takeovers are possible."

While predicting stronger inorganic growth, nothing is definite yet with regard to takeover targets, Kaschke said.

The group will miss a target of boosting revenue to 6 billion euros (5.16 billion pounds) this year because a semiconductor technology developed by Zeiss has been delayed, the CEO said.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Dale Hudson)