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Weaker German DAX firms

May 15, 2013

The 30 most important German companies listed in Germany's DAX stock index have logged a decline in combined first-quarter turnover. A major international auditor says it's the first drop in revenue since 2009.

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Sign of the German DAX stock index Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Economic auditing company Ernst & Young (E & Y) said Wednesday that Germany's 30 DAX-listed companies had been unable in recent months to fully ward off the impact of a protracted European debt crisis.

In a fresh study coming at the end of first-quarter earnings reports, the auditors said the combined Q1 turnover of the DAX firms amounted to 308.4 billion euros ($397 billion), marking a 0.8 percent drop from the level reached in the same quarter a year earlier.

The decrease in revenue meant the first dip since the final quarter of 2009, E & Y reported. The firms' operating profit, that is earnings before interest and tax, fell by 3 percent to 30.3 billion euros.

Dax stocks in mainly foreign hands

No homogeneous picture

The E & Y study revealed that carmakers Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and tire maker Continental suffered the biggest decline in turnover, with their combined revenues dipping by almost 4 percent year-on-year and their operating profit going down by 26 percent.

"Germany's top companies are increasingly feeling the impact of the European debt crisis," E & Y partner Thomas Harms said in a statement. "But thanks to their favorable global positioning and positive economic developments in the US and China the drop in revenue has not been dramatic."

The overall decline in turnover didn't mean there weren't any winners among the DAX-listed companies. Utility firm E.ON for instance posted an operating profit of 3.5 billion euros in the first quarter, followed by German insurer Allianz, which secured 2.8 billion euros in Ebit earnings.

hg/jm (dpa, Reuters)