Key economic performance indicators

•  Operating profit development and a decline in net debt led to a significant increase in debt coverage.
• ROCE also benefited from positive operating profit development.

¹⁾ The ROCE target for DB InfraGO is derived from the Federal Network Agency’s specifications for the cost of capital rates for the Passenger Stations busines area (2.86 %), the statutory return on equity for the Track business area (1.9 %) and a standard market cost of capital rate for the business activities in competition.
²⁾ Calculation using a method based on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), as the Federal Network Agency has not defined a weighted average cost of capital (WACC), but an asset-specific cost of equity.

Financial stability is an essential prerequisite for DB Group to finance capital expenditures in its core business, further develop its business and take advantage of future growth opportunities. As part of our value management, we want to manage the profitability of DB Group in the long term so that capital expenditures in the core business can be financed and the assets retain their value. The financial management and steering of DB Group – and thus the monitoring of the success of our economic targets – is carried out via a value management system based on key figures. The results are an important factor for our strategic approach, our capital expenditure decisions and employee and executive remuneration.

• Financial stability is essential for sustainable economic activity. For DB Group with its asset-intensive business, access to the capital market at good conditions at all times is essential. Achieving adequate key debt ratios is, therefore, a major objective. We use debt coverage to manage debt. We derive the target value from credit rating indicators with peer companies with strong credit ratings.
• Profitability as an overarching target in value management aims to ensure a long-term reasonable rate of return over several economic cycles. To this end, we identify the cost of capital annually on the basis of market values as a weighted average of risk-adequate market yields for equity and debt capital. The cost of capital rates of DB InfraGO’s regulated business areas (Track and Passenger Stations) take into account their orientation towards the common good, and are determined on the basis of statutory and regulatory requirements. We measure the actual return, the return on capital employed (ROCE), as the ratio of operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT adjusted) to operating assets (capital employed). For the infrastructure companies, the target value is identical to the cost of capital rates; otherwise, it is set above the cost of capital rate. The target is to achieve a multi-year ROCE average that reaches the target value, ensuring that the cost of capital is covered. The target value corresponds to the minimum required rate of return (MRR) for capital expenditure decisions. The respective business characteristics result in different target values for our activities. The operating business is generally managed before taxes; accordingly, the metrics are mainly reported as pre-tax figures.

In 2025, the ROCE target values were partially adjusted:

• At DB Long-Distance and DB Regional, the target ROCE fell, mainly as a result of a lower total market return compared to the previous year.
• At DB Energy, the target value increased, in particular, due to a higher risk-free interest rate.
• The law to mitigate the increase in train-path usage fees at the Federal railways, which came into force in November 2025, sets an equity interest rate of 1.9 % for operators of tracks of the Federal railways. For this reason, the economic steering of DB InfraGO is based on ROCE instead of return on equity, in addition to debt coverage. The ROCE target value corresponds to the average cost of capital of DB InfraGO’s Track and Passenger Stations business areas. While the equity interest rate for the Track business area is set by law, the cost of debt continues to be specified by the BNetzA. The cost of capital is set at 2.86 % for the regulated part of the Passenger Stations business area. In addition, the ROCE target value takes into account a standard market cost of capital for competitive business activities.
• As a result, the economic steering of DB Group is again based on ROCE in addition to debt coverage.