Financial position
Liabilities
| Liabilities DB AG (HGB) / € million | 2025 | 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | % | |||
| Bonds | 28,155 | – | +28,155 | – |
| Liabilities to affiliated companies | 8,458 | 40,729 | ‒32,271 | ‒79.2 |
| Liabilities to banks | 590 | 3,642 | ‒3,052 | ‒83.8 |
| Liabilities to companies where a shareholding relationship exists | 0 | 0 | – | – |
| Trade liabilities | 35 | 37 | ‒2 | ‒5.4 |
| Other | 305 | 1,655 | ‒1,350 | ‒81.6 |
| Total | 37,543 | 46,063 | +8,520 | ‒18.5 |
DB AG’s liabilities as of December 31, 2025, were noticeably lower than at the end of the previous year:
- Liabilities to affiliated companies saw a significant decline.
- As a result of the merger of DB Finance, the bonds issued by DB Finance, which were passed on to DB AG as loans, are reported as liabilities from bonds as of December 31, 2025 (as of December 31, 2024: liabilities to affiliated companies).
- Liabilities from bonds (as of December 31, 2024: loans to DB Finance in the amount of € 31,171 million) decreased significantly due to repayments.
- In addition, liabilities to affiliated companies decreased, mainly as a result of lower liabilities from intra-Group cash pooling, profit and loss transfer agreements and loans.
- Liabilities to banks decreased as of December 31, 2025, mainly driven by the repayment of bank loans. In anticipation of the cash inflow from the sale of DB Schenker in 2025, more short-term financial debt was raised in the previous year to offset the significantly reduced issue of senior bonds during the course of 2024 to cover financing requirements.
- The decrease in other liabilities was predominantly due to the repayment of commercial papers.
Capital expenditures
At € 106 million, gross capital expenditures in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets were significantly above the previous year’s level (previous year: € 90 million) and resulted primarily from IT projects.
Statement of cash flows
| Summary of statement of cash flowsDB AG (HGB) / € million | 2025 | 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | % | |||
| Cash flow from operating activities | –628 | –756 | +128 | ‒16.9 |
| Cash flow from investing activities | 8,355 | –2,912 | +11,267 | – |
| Cash flow from financing activities | –585 | 6,384 | ‒6,969 | – |
| Net change in cash and cash equivalents | +7,142 | +2,716 | +4,426 | +163 |
| Cash and cash equivalents as of Dec 31 1) | 10,621 | 3,379 | +7,242 | – |
1) Since January 1, 2025, shares in money market funds have been reported as cash and cash equivalents. The value as of December 31, 2024, was not adjusted.
- The cash outflow from operating activities decreased slightly. This was due to an improvement in profit before depreciation, interest and net investment income and excluding the positive effects from the sale of fixed assets (mainly in connection with the sale of DB Schenker). This development was supported by positive working capital effects.
- The very high cash inflow from investing activities (previous year: cash outflow from investing activities) was largely driven by:
- the cash inflow from the sale of DB Schenker (€ +12.5 billion),
- the cash inflow from financial investments in current financial management (€ 816 million; cash outflow in the previous year: € –391 million) as a result of the higher average cash and cash equivalents, a lower cash outflow from the assumption of losses (€ +745 million) and net cash inflows in connection with Group financing (€ +347 million) supported this development.
- This was partially offset by the higher cash outflow from equity increases at DB InfraGO AG (€ –2,864 million).
- The cash outflow from financing activities (previous year: cash inflow from financing activities) mainly resulted from:
- Net cash outflows from taking out and repaying financial loans (€ –7,638 million; previous year: net cash inflows from taking out and repaying financial loans in the amount of € 2,418 million), mainly driven by the repayment of current financial debt. In previous years, short-term bank loans were taken out in anticipation of the cash inflow from the sale of DB Schenker.
- This development was partially offset by the Federal Government’s equity measures (€ +8,314 million; previous year: € +5,500 million) and a lower cash outflow for interest paid (€ +267 million), among other things.
On balance, this resulted in a significantly higher cash inflow, which meant that DB AG had significantly higher cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2025, compared to the end of the previous year.
Deviations from the forecast financial position
The development of DB AG 2025 in its financial statements according to HGB corresponds to the forecast for the 2025 financial year given in the Combined Management Report for the 2024 financial year.