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• Berlin Online -
Contains a searchable archive for all articles published in the Berliner Zeitung since May 1, 1994. German only.
• Berliner Morgenpost -
This newspaper also has an online archive, available for free. But it too is all in German.
• Comdirect Bank Online -
In the Börsenkurse Section, you can get fairly detailed profiles on the largest German companies, as well as the stock prices. But this site is only available in German;
there's no English here. Summary financials, long profile, number of employees are all included.
• Deutsche Informations Börse AG -
Profiles of over 800 German companies. In German only. Much better in Explorer than Netscape.
• Die 500 größten Unternehmen in Deutschland - From Die Welt, a popular Newspaper in Germany, this page gives a list of the top 500 German companies -- a Fortune 500 for Germany.
The interface is all in German, and even if you speak German, you'll probably find that it's a bit cumbersome, but you can get information on companies:
address, sales [Umsatz], Sector, percentage of business that is international [Auslandsanteil], Profits after tax [Jahresüberschuß], Chairman
[Vorstandvorsitzender], Supervisory Board chairman [Aufsichtsratsmitglieder], the largest shareholder [Großaktionär] and the fiscal year [Bilanztermin].
• Die Welt - One of Germany's largest
newspapers, this site offers German stock quotes, and it also has an
extensive article archive. If you want to find out recent news about a German
company, this is the place. However, it is all in German, and if you don't know
German, this site won't be of much use.
• Hoovers German companies - Hoovers profiles of Germany companies -- about 100 companies total, mainly large companies. In English. Profiles are about a paragraph long, also has officers and sales information.
• Hoppenstedt Börsenforum - This site contains information on publicly-traded companies in Germany, including Wertpapier number, address, phone, fax,
brief description, list of management, and financial statements. It appears to have this data for virtually all listed companies, as far
as I can tell. For the biggest companies, extensive data are available, including copies of the annual reports. This site is in German only.
• Jobware Deutschland -
Although its name implies it is for job seekers, there is some good information about the larger German companies
here. Addresses, telephone and fax numbers, founding year, branches, products,
number of employees and the turnover are all provided.
• OnVista -
Profiles and information for German stocks: everything here is in German. Has profile, stock charts, news, and financial data.
• Yahoo Deutschland -
Profiles of German companies, in German only. Address, annual meeting date, and some brief financials are available here.
Charts
• Deutsche Bank -
Charts with the 30 day average, volume, MACD.
• QuoteLine -
Charts for German stocks: put the WKN into the box.
Corporate Structures
• -
| Type |
Description |
| AG |
Aktiengesellschaft, translates to Stock Company. All publicly
traded companies in Germany must be incorporated under this legal
structure, but not all AGs are necessarily publicly-traded. AGs have two sets of
boards -- the Vorstand, which usually consists of the CEO, CFO and other top management,
and an Aufsichtsrat, which translates to "supervisory
board," which has the function of overseeing management and representing the shareholders.
German law prohibits individuals from being members of both boards.
AGs in Germany require a minimum of DM 100,000 share capital and at least five shareholders at incorporation.
Minimum par value for shares is DM 50. |
| e.V. |
eingetragener Verein. Non-profit society or association.
|
| GbR | Gesellschaft burgerlichen Rechts. Partnership without a legal name. Mainly used for non-commercial
purposes. Partners have full liability. |
| GmbH & Co. KG |
Like a KG, but the entity with unlimited liability is a GmbH instead of a person. |
| GmbH |
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Translates to
"Company with limited liability." A GmbH indicates that a company is
incorporated, but is not publicly traded (as public companies must be AGs). GmbHs are
essentially partnerships without a legal name, and there usually must be at least
two partners, although GmbHs with one partner are possible. There must be nominal capital of at least DM 50,000. Most
foreign subsidiaries in Germany are incorporated with this structure.
|
| IG |
Industriegewerkschaft. Industrial Trade Union.
|
| KG |
Kommanditgesellschaft. A partnership under a legal name. There
must be at least two partners, at least one limited and at least one unlimited. |
| KGaA |
Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien. A Limited Partnership that has shares.
|
| OHG |
Offene Handelsgesellschaft. Partnership with a legal name, and
must have at least two partners. Partners have unlimited liability. |
| VEB |
Volkseigner Betrieb. Term for East German companies before Reunification. They
were all either shut down, or converted into AGs or GmbHs by the Privitization Agency (Treuhandanstalt).
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Historical Quotes
• Aktien-W -
Has a program that allows you to download historical quotes dating back to 1986.
• Chartscripts -
This site features a program you download, and then download stock data
to analyze with this program. It has historical prices for 500 German and
U.S. Stocks, going back to September 1994. About half the histories include
high and low, and about a third include volume.
Off the Web
• Banks, Finance and Investment in Germany -
[Book -- Amazon]. Published by Cambridge University Press, this book provides a critical look
at the bank-based financial structure that exists in Germany. The authors don't believe that this is a good system, and
their analysis includes how banks react to firms in financial distress, whether the banks act as delegated exercisers of equity owners'
rights, etc. $19.95
Private Companies
• Das Große deutsche Branchenbuch -
Names, addresses and telephone/fax number of 3 million German businesses
in 7,000 different sectors. Search by sector, name, street, zip code (PLZ), etc. The page is in German, Spanish or English.
• Hoppenstedt -
[Fee-based] One of the premier data vendors in Germany, this site has information on purchasing products of Hoppenstedt, some of which are available on-line.
• Lycos Firmen Guide -
This site (at Lycos) has information about 300,000 companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Benelux and a few Eastern European countries. They've got the name, address, phone, fax, sector
and chief officers. However, it's all in German, so if you are searching by sector, you'll have to know
the name of the sector in German.
• Markt und Mittelstand -
Profiles of hundreds of Mittelstand companies (medium size companies that are usually suppliers to the big companies).
• Yahoo Branchenbuch -
Yellow pages for Germany from Yahoo. You have to search based on the Zip code (PLZ -- Postleitzahl) or you can select a city. All German, no English.
Quotes
• Berlin Stock Exchange -
Has quotes from the exchange, updated every 15 minutes. The quote format is a bit confusing: in addition to the name and Wertpapier number,
there's the previous day quote, consecutive notations, and a uniform price.
• Business Channel -
Charts and quotes from Reuters. Search by WKN.
• Double Digit -
Quotes for German stocks, with news and details. In German only.
• financial.de AG -
Quotes from the German exchanges. Search by name or WKN.
• fnet.de -
Stock prices for hundreds of German stocks. Wertpapier and volume numbers
and current prices are provided. Also provides seven reports per day on the German market and four
reports covering the "Neuer Markt".
• Yahoo Finance - and
• Yahoo Finanzen -
Quotes for all stocks that trade on the Frankfurt (and Paris and London) exchanges. Yahoo Finance is in English, Yahoo Finanzen is in German
Regional Sites
• World Trade Center Brandenburg -
This site has profiles of several hundred companies in Brandenburg (which is near the Polish border). Profiles include descriptions and contact information.
Sidebar
• FAO Brief - Country profile by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (Adobe Acrobat Required.)
• German Law Links
• US Dept. of State 2000 Comm. Guide
Other Industry Research Links for Germany
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