Investor Relations

Stock market year 2016 – Development of the markets

Second half of the year rescues annual performance of the share indices

Developments of the German share indices were characterised by a high degree of volatility in 2016. Germany's leading index, the DAX, was still down until the end of November. While the MDAX and SDAX were already able to record initial gains in August, Germany's leading index did not achieve this until December. For the full year, the DAX recorded an increase of +7.9%. The MDAX (+6.3%) and TecDAX (+5.5%) were also able to record further gains and close the 2016 stock market year in positive territory.

Germany's leading index, the DAX, experienced its weakest start for 28 years. After two and a half weeks in 2016, it had fallen to 9,314 points. This decline was due to the impact concerns about growth in China and the resulting negative expectations for German exports. In the months that followed, the capital markets in Germany and Europe were unsettled further by speculation of an increase in capital stock and greater credit defaults at Deutsche Bank. The DAX fell to 8,752 points, a decline of 18.5% since the start of the year. The DAX was not able to climb above the 10,000-point mark again until March. It then went on to hit 10,474 points in April. Following a phase of relative calm, the mood worsened again significantly in June. The DAX lost almost 6% month-on-month. The imminent Brexit referendum had a negative impact on the markets, primarily due to uncertainty regarding global economic prospects caused by the UK's potential departure from the EU. On 24 June, the unexpected result of the referendum in the UK caused the DAX a single day loss of over 10%. It eventually bottomed out at 9,226 points.

Rapid recovery after Brexit

Germany’s leading indices recovered remarkably quickly from the referendum result in Great Britain. Indeed, in July they had already recorded increases of over 6 % and were thereby able to regain lost ground. The upwards trend continued in August, although it was less pronounced. Robust labour market data from the US helped the DAX reach a monthly high of 10,802 points on 15 August. In September, the ECB disappointed the markets by electing not to extend its quantitative easing programme beyond March 2017 and also not to increase the repurchase volume. The DAX then suffered a month-on-month decline (-0.8%). In October, concerns over Deutsche Bank, a “hard Brexit” and the most recent collapse in exports from China served to suppress developments in the market. Further, when Hillary Clinton was seen to defeat Trump in each of the three televised debates held during the US election campaign, the stock exchanges reacted positively. Indeed, the DAX reached a new annual high of 10,827 points on 25 October.


Stock markets initially suffered severe losses in Asia and also in Europe, with Donald Trump’s surprise win of the 9 November US presidential election. However, the stock market was then given new impetus by Donald Trump’s announcements regarding deregulation of the US banking sector, reversal of the healthcare reform initiated by President Obama, increasing state spending on infrastructure and defence, as well as tax cuts. On 22 November, all four US indices (Dow Jones / S&P500 / Nasdaq100 and Russel 2000) simultaneously recorded new all-time highs for the first time since 1999. In Germany, however, the DAX, MDAX and TecDAX were all down at the end of the month – despite unemployment figures for October hitting a record low of 6.0%. The “Trump Rally” launched in November continued into December and also gave a bump to share prices in Europe. The DAX, MDAX and TecDAX all recorded significant gains. Two key contributing factors here were that Brexit continued to remain in the background with its potentially negative consequences and, as anticipated, the ECB extended its quantitative easing programme until the end of 2017. The ifo business climate index had a positive effect in December, as it reached its highest level for almost two years at 111 points. With 22,147 points, the MDAX set a new all-time high at the end of the year, while the DAX reached its annual high of 11,451 points.

MLP share

The MLP AG share was subject to pronounced fluctuations in the first half of financial year 2016. The price trend was then clearly positive from the third quarter onwards. At a price of € 3.65, the MLP share began the new year virtually unchanged. Due to a strong sales surplus, the share dipped below the € 3.00 mark at the start of February and reached its annual low of € 2.57 on 9 February 2016. Following the expiry of a large purchase order, however, the price was later able to recover up to mid-April and once again surpass the € 3 mark. The price had risen to € 3.70 by the start of June, but then declined slightly following the € 0.12 per share dividend payment on 17 June. Publication of the business figures for the first nine months triggered a sustainable upwards trend, which in mid-November took the price above the € 4 mark for the first time in the reporting period. The closing price at the end of the year was € 4.17, which is 14.2% above the price at the start of the year. The average daily trading volume increased over the previous year (81,000) to 93,390 shares per day.

The MLP AG share exited the SDAX with effect from 21 March 2016. This was due to large companies taking their place ahead of MLP in the ranking of the performance index last year, primarily as a result of IPOs and changes to stock exchange segments. The downward development of the MLP share near the end of 2015 and at the beginning of 2016 also contributed to the company exiting the SDAX. Our objective is to once again increase market capitalisation by improving operational development. This represents the basis for being able to return to the index. Over the course of the year, we also won another designated sponsor to provide additional liquidity for share trading.

Further information on the MLP share can be found in the “MLP Share” section of our Investor Relations page at www.mlp-ag.com.
 

Dividend

MLP will continue its consistent dividend policy for the financial year 2016. As announced, the distribution rate will be between 50% and 70%. In concrete terms, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of € 0.08 per share at the Annual General Meeting on 29 June 2017. This corresponds to a distribution rate of around 60% of the net profit for the period.

Key figures compared to previous year

Changes to the shareholder structure

The following changes were made in the reporting period. The share of the voting rights held by FMR LLC (Fidelity) decreased to 4.72% by 16 March 2016 (7.10%). This decline can be attributed to expiration of the proxy for exercising voting rights. In addition, Harris Associates L.P/Harris Associates Investment Trust informed us that it held only 1.46% of the shares in MLP with effect from 19 February 2016.

With effect from 27 June 2016, INKA Internationale Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH, Düsseldorf, acquired a total of 3.55% MLP shares.

The free float in financial year 2016 remained unchanged at 49.8%. In line with the German Stock Exchange’s definition, institutional investors were not taken into consideration when determining the free float. The following chart provides an overview of the major shareholders 

Investor relations activities

The goal of our investor relations activities is to establish a continuous and open dialogue with our shareholders, potential investors and the capital market. We are keen to establish and build on trust among investors and support the market in assessing the value potential of our company. To this end, we provide continuous, timely and transparent information on relevant events and incorporate feedback received from capital market players. We engage in active exchange with both private and institutional investors at regular capital market events, such as roadshows, capital market conferences and our Annual General Meeting. Alongside direct contact, financial reporting is a key basis for our communication. The Annual Report plays a particularly important part here, as it provides comprehensive and transparent information on all aspects of the company. Since the 2015 Annual Report, MLP has switched over to an online-only version. This allows users to call up specific information and compile their own individual download package. The report, which adapts to the respective terminal device of the user, is available at www.mlp-annual-report.com.

Online Annual Report wins Red Dot Award

In August 2016, the first MLP AG Online Annual Report received the Red Dot Design Award in the “Communication Design / Annual Report” category. The 26 experts on the international jury were particularly impressed by the information design and interactive tools. Submissions were received from a total of 46 nations for this year’s competition.

Investor relations services

We also provide a special investor relations newsletter service, whereby anyone interested can sign up to receive e-mails on important events. Interested parties can also keep up-to-date with news from the company and the sector via twitter. You can find the investor relations section at: www.mlp-ag.com/investors. [Please feel free to contact us if you prefer to speak to someone.]