Dear Shareholders,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

There was often a thin line between hope and disappointment last year. On the one hand, the economy recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions faster than many people had expected. But the fourth wave of the pandemic put paid to hopes that the crisis would be over soon. And central banks stuck to their policies of low interest rates, despite increasing inflation.

Deutsche Börse also went through an eventful year. To come straight to the point: we reported very good results, although external conditions were difficult. Demand for our products and services had reached record heights in 2020, so the bar for 2021 was particularly high. And in 2021 the market environment did not work in our favour. Lower market volatility than in the previous year meant our trading segments were faced with strong cyclical headwinds. But in spite of these headwinds we achieved our growth and profitability targets. 

That is further proof of how strong our diversified business model is. We were particularly pleased by the contribution last year from those components of growth that are not subject to the ebbs and flows of markets, with secular growth amounting to 6 per cent, principally thanks to our Investment Fund Services, the rating provider ISS and commodities trading at EEX.

Inorganic growth of 7 per cent was also high. Here the most important factor was the acquisition of ISS that we completed in February 2021. The purchase expanded the strategic range of our products and services. At the same time, it made us a leading provider of ESG data. And in addition to the growth itself, our move towards more data and ESG has a welcome side-effect: the share of our recurring income is rising continuously and now comes to 55 per cent. This makes us more independent of the day-to-day market fluctuations.

The full takeover of Clearstream Fund Centre also contributed to growth, as well as creating significant revenue synergies. We also completed our acquisition of the Swiss company Crypto Finance AG, which further improves our position in the blockchain and crypto token space. Together with the introduction of G7, our next-generation post-trading platform, this means we set the pace for the technological transformation of capital markets. Which is how we safeguard the future of Deutsche Börse. 

As a result, we achieved our targets for 2021 in terms of both net revenue and EBITDA, with €3.5 billion in net revenue and EBITDA of €2.0 billion. Our net revenue has therefore grown by an average of 9 per cent and EBITDA by 10 per cent since 2019. So we are well on track to meeting the growth targets defined in our Compass 2023 strategy of 10 per cent for net revenue and EBITDA, respectively, by the end of next year.

The decisive contribution comes from our motivated and highly committed teams all around the world. Our employees put in an excellent performance in another year dominated by COVID-19. I would like to take this opportunity to express my particular thanks to them. 

So what comes next? To start with, we will continue to implement our Compass 2023 strategy consistently. And we expect that our cyclical operating environment will continue to improve. That should turn the headwinds into tailwinds for us. We are also planning a new structure for Clearstream by year-end in order to reinforce our growth momentum. We will be carving the "Fund Services” out of Clearstream, so that it can concentrate on its "Securities Services”. This will create two largely independent units, with corresponding new development opportunities, also for partnerships and M&A activities.

Our sustainable finance products are also turning into a real growth business. Products and services related to environmental, social and governance aspects – ESG for short – accounted for some 7 per cent of our revenue in 2021. ISS plays a big part in this. In the years ahead, the aim will be to embed the ESG capabilities of ISS across our entire value chain and product portfolio. This is already reflected in our corporate reporting: sustainability is an important leitmotif in this Annual Report. And as you will see, we use non-financial indicators as well as financial ones in our management and control logic.

My thanks go to you, our shareholders, for your confidence in these eventful times. And I am pleased to be able to propose another increase in your dividend at the Annual General Meeting for 2021: up by 7 per cent to €3.20 per share. This gives us leeway to continue increasing the long-term value of your company by means of investments, mergers and acquisitions. By doing so, we are laying the foundations for the further growth of your Deutsche Börse. Thank you for your loyalty.
 

Yours sincerely,

Theodor Weimer

Frankfurt/Main, 11 March 2022