Press release

Heerlen, NL, 06 Feb 2019 13:15 CET

Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, today celebrates that it is 30 years ago that the company was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (currently Euronext Amsterdam). At the time, the IPO was the biggest introduction in the history of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

On 6 February 1989, the Dutch state sold around one third of its stake in DSM, followed by another third in September 1989 with the remaining stake following 7 years later, finalizing the privatization of the company.

DSM’s ordinary shares were listed at €8.17 (corrected for stock splits). Since the stock market listing, the DSM share (including dividend) has shown a tenfold increase, while the AEX increased more than four times. Including dividend, DSM’s CAGR over the period was 13% per year compared to 8% for the AEX index; this means more than 50% better long-term annual returns.

Since DSM’s listing, the company has undergone another successful transformation, selling almost all of its commodity and bulk chemicals activities and becoming a purpose-led, science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living. DSM also became an intrinsically innovative company and a true global company with a diverse workforce. In 1989, around 15% of DSM’s sales and 7% of its employees were outside Europe, compared to ~65% and ~60% respectively today.

In the past 30 years, DSM has also made great strides in sustainability, not only being a core value and key responsibility but also increasingly an important business driver that is fully engrained in the company’s strategy, business and operations. DSM was one of the first companies to introduce integrated reporting and to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals in its strategy, contributing to these with our science-based solutions to create brighter lives for people today and generations to come.