On the three previous occasions, it had stumbled over the €50-per-share ceiling, only to fall back to a low of €30 per share. It's true that the pandemic and the war in Ukraine occurred in the meantime, but it has to be said that Fuchs has resisted remarkably well in the harsh recession that has been raging across the Rhine for the past two or three years.
The Mannheim-based group, controlled by the eponymous family for three generations, is the world's leading independent lubricants producer. Ahead of it, its top seven competitors are all majors: Shell, Exxon, BP, Total, Sinopec, Chevron and Petrochina; behind it, its two immediate competitors are the Americans Valvoline and Ergon.
Fuchs generates 3/4 of its sales internationally, with just under a quarter in China. The automotive segment accounts for 44% of sales, while the industrial segment, which is well diversified in terms of outlets but very much linked to mobility, accounts for the remaining 56%.
The lubricants market has been characterized by a total lack of growth over the past 25 years, but this has not prevented Fuchs from prospering thanks to its specialty products and a judicious acquisition strategy.
There were strong fears that the rise of electric motors would have a lasting effect on the Group's sales, which seem to have plateaued over the last three years. The company maintains that this is not the case, and that its products remain necessary to preserve the long-term integrity of batteries and other equipment such as wheel hubs.
Long-time MarketScreener subscribers will no doubt recall that Fuchs was once a position in our Europe portfolio - a portfolio which, for the record, significantly outperformed its benchmark index in 2025.
Our team of analysts readily admits to having always had a soft spot for this well-managed, family-run industrial group, a well-oiled machine that is successfully expanding in a difficult sector, and whose financial communications are as transparent as they are excellent.
Fuchs, as MarketScreener traditionally does in these columns, is accustomed to assessing its financial performance over the very long term - in this case, twenty years. This makes it easy to judge its balance sheet, noting that between 2004 and 2024, sales rose from €1.1bn to €3.5bn, representing an annualized growth rate of 6%.
Operating profit quintupled from €86m to €434m over the period, representing an annualized growth rate of 8.4%. It should be noted that this €348m gain before interest and tax was achieved by investing €1.3bin in fixed assets, and €0.6bn in acquisitions: returns on investment are therefore in double figures, and value creation as real as it is admirable.
A true dividend aristocrat, the Group also increased its payout uninterruptedly between 2004 and 2024, from €0.1 to €1.17, representing an annualized growth rate of 13%. Unsurprisingly, in 2024, the group pursued its strategy of consolidation in the sector by acquiring its compatriot Lubcon and the Swiss company Strub & Co.
