Deutsche Börse AG intends to invest €270 million in key technologies as part of a new business strategy dubbed "Roadmap 2020," which also focuses on organic growth and targeted acquisitions.
The German stock exchange operator said May 30 that it will expand investments in blockchain, big data analyses, cloud computing and robotics and artificial intelligence.
The firm also eyes acquisitions in fixed-income securities, energy products, currencies, investment fund services and data and indexes, using a return on invested capital of over 10% after three to five years as a guideline for investment.
Deutsche Börse, meanwhile, confirmed targets set out in April along with its first-quarter results, including net revenue growth of more than 5% per year until 2020 and an average annual growth in adjusted net profit of between 10% and 15% through 2020. Also confirmed was plans to ax 350 jobs, 50 of which are managers, in a bid to cut structural costs by €100 million by 2020-end.
To preserve shareholder participation, the group intends to distribute regular dividends of between 40% and 60% of its consolidated net profit through the period.
The new strategy is expected to result in one-off costs of about €200 million, mostly to be incurred in 2018.
