FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A record result last year and prospects for good business boosted Deutsche Börse shares on Thursday. At times, they reached 173.80 euros, the highest level since early December. At lunchtime, they still gained 3.3 percent to 171.80 euros as the top value in the Dax behind Siemens.

Deutsche Börse shares have been among the winners on the stock market for some time. Since Theodor Weimer took office as CEO at the beginning of 2018, the stock market value has risen by around 75 percent to 32 billion euros at last count. This makes Deutsche Börse the most valuable listed company in Frankfurt's financial center.

The growth initiatives had paid off, as they made the company less dependent on cyclical trading activities, noted Jürgen Graf, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW). In addition, interest rate hikes by central banks and high volatility in the markets had a positive effect, as they strongly boosted the more volatile part of earnings. Graf raised his price target for the share from 188 to 190 euros and reiterated his buy rating.

Analyst Michael Werner of Swiss bank UBS highlighted the outlook for 2023. It sounded confident and "less conservative" than he expected, he wrote. However, JPMorgan analyst Enrico Bolzoni cautioned, market estimates already reflect the new targets.

Despite the expected slowdown in the economy, the executive expects growth to continue in 2023. Revenues are expected to climb to between 4.5 and 4.7 billion euros, which would be an increase of up to eight percent. Although this would be significantly below the 24 percent increase in 2022, it is not surprising in view of the rapid growth in the past year.

Operating profit (Ebitda) is expected to rise to between 2.6 and 2.8 billion euros, up to 11 percent more than in 2022. Last year, the increase here was also 24 percent.

Shareholders should also benefit from the strong growth in 2022, as Deutsche Börse plans to increase the dividend by 13 percent to €3.60 per share./ck/mis/tih