LÜBECK (dpa-AFX) - Shareholders of the medical and safety technology group Drägerwerk can look forward to a significantly higher dividend. The dividend for the preference shares listed on the SDax is to be increased from 19 cents for 2022 to 1.80 euros for the past year, the company announced in Lübeck on Thursday. Experts had expected the dividend to be increased, but not to this extent. For the ordinary shares, which are mainly owned by the Dräger family, the dividend is to rise to 1.74 euros after 13 cents for 2022.

This was well received on the stock market. The share price recently rose by more than three percent, making it one of the biggest winners on the SDax.

The significant increase in dividends made better business in the past year and a reorganization of the capital structure possible. Drägerwerk had called in the last profit participation certificates in 2023. The interest on these was also financed by the profit - meaning that less was left for the dividend in recent years.

The company had already announced its intention to significantly increase the dividend in mid-January when it presented its key figures for the past year. In 2023, turnover increased by almost eleven percent to 3.37 billion euros - adjusted for the effects of the strong euro, the increase was 13.1 percent. Drägerwerk earned a good 166 million euros before interest and taxes (EBIT) after a loss of almost 89 million euros.

The bottom line was a profit of 112 million euros. In 2022, the loss had amounted to just under 64 million euros. In the current year, Drägerwerk is targeting currency-adjusted net sales growth of between one and five percent. The margin based on earnings before interest and taxes is expected to be between 2.5 and 5.5 percent. In 2023, the figure was 4.9 percent. Like the key figures for 2023, the outlook has been known since mid-January./zb/mne/mis