Rheinmetall share rises: Waffenschmiede replaces dialysis specialist in the DAX

The much-cited turning point reached the leading index of the German stock exchange.

Rheinmetall share rises: Waffenschmiede replaces dialysis specialist in the DAX

The much-cited turning point reached the leading index of the German stock exchange. In anticipation of increasing armaments orders, shares in the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall have been climbing from one record high to the next for months. The stock will now be included in the DAX. A healthcare company has to make room for this.

The armaments group Rheinmetall is included in the leading German index DAX. Deutsche Börse announced this on Friday evening. The Düsseldorf-based company will replace the dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care AG in the first German stock exchange league from March 20th. FMC then descends into the index of medium-sized stocks, the MDAX. Rheinmetall currently has a market value of more than 10.8 billion euros. The share price has almost doubled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a little over a year ago.

With around 29,500 employees, 15,000 of them in Germany, Rheinmetall is Germany's largest armaments group. The company has added jobs over the past year. Business is booming. The economically positive perspective is also due to increasing demand from other NATO and EU countries. A Rheinmetall spokesman recently said that Russia's attack on Ukraine "again caused stronger and faster demand". "We have years of strong growth ahead of us."

Meanwhile, Rheinmetall boss Armin Papperger announced that his company is negotiating the construction of a tank factory on Ukrainian soil. "A Rheinmetall plant can be built in Ukraine for around 200 million euros," he told the Rheinische Post. It could produce up to 400 Panther-type main battle tanks annually. The talks with the Ukrainian government are "promising". The Ukraine needs 600 to 800 tanks for a victory, stressed the Rheinmetall boss. In order for the crowd to come together, the construction of new tanks would have to start quickly.

Companies in the armaments industry are also aiming for the MDAX: the armaments electronics manufacturer Hensoldt replaces the biofuel manufacturer Verbio. In addition, the technology group Jenoptik replaces Software AG. Verbio and Software AG are relegated to the SDAX.