Scale Market Report: Back on the road to success

Companies from the booming sectors of defense, power grid, and battery components have brought strong gains to the Scale Index this year. The top performers have doubled in value. However, there are also losers.

15 December 2025. FRANKFURT (Deutsche Börse). Everything looks set for a really good year in 2025 for the Scale segment. Currently standing at 1,355 points, the Scale All-Share Index has gained 22 percent since the beginning of the year. This puts the small-cap index just above the DAX and SDAX and well above the MDAX (17 percent).

Despite recent price weakness, Steyr Motors (AT0000A3FW25) still accounts for a large share of this. The engine manufacturer, which is benefiting from the defense boom, reduced its annual outlook in November due to “delays in some orders from international government customers.” The share price fell from 46 to below 28 euros. The share currently costs €35.50 – still more than double its price at the beginning of the year. The research firm NuWays began covering Steyr at the beginning of the month, recommending investors to buy and setting a price target of €59. “Defense budgets are rising, more and more equipment is needed, and decades of underinvestment in land forces are leading to sustained demand for parts, which is Steyr's strong point,” the analysts write.

IBU-tec and Pfisterer among the profit drivers

IBU-tec advanced materials, Pfisterer, Daldrup & Söhne AG (DE0007830572), and Tin Inn are also among the top performers over a twelve-month period. The share price of battery material manufacturer IBU-tec advanced materials (DE000A0XYHT5) jumped sharply in mid-October from below €10 to a high of €26.80. It currently stands at €18.65. The research firm Montega believes the share price could rise to €25 again. “With every success story about the transformation process, the idea that the deals with battery manufacturer PowerCo SE are just the tip of the iceberg of a series of projects with equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and cell producers should grow,” it says.

Another success story is power grid equipment supplier Pfisterer (DE000PFSE212). Although the share price has been moving sideways for several months, the stock is currently trading at €72. However, since its IPO in May at €27, the share price has still more than doubled. The share price of the second newcomer to the stock market, Tin Inn Holding (DE000A40ZTT8), has also doubled. However, the hotel chain, which builds hotels from old shipping containers, has recently caused uncertainty: the management board canceled the planned issue of a secured corporate bond. The share price fell from over €21 to €14. At the start of trading in May, however, it was only €6.90.

2G on a rollercoaster ride 

There has been a lot of movement in recent months at combined heat and power plant and large heat pump manufacturer 2G Energy (DE000A0HL8N9): first a drop in the share price from almost €40 to €26, then a rise to €36. The company reported a decline in sales for the third quarter, but expects to return to growth in the fourth quarter. “Both the energy hunger of the rapidly growing data center sector and the German biomass package offer 2G excellent growth opportunities,” explains First Berlin, setting a price target of €38 and recommending entry. SMC Research is also confident and sees 2G “back on track” in the fourth quarter. SMC even considers a price of €40 to be appropriate.