Banca Ifis: net profit for Q1 2024 up to 47 million Euro. Revenues rise by 5% on 2023

Reclassified data – 1 January 2024/ 31 March 2024

• The Group’s net profit amounts to 47,2 million Euro, up 2,7% from 45,9 million Euro in the first quarter of 2023. The results of the first quarter were positively influenced by the commercial results, the results of the proprietary finance business and the moderate risk scenario.
• Net banking income, up 5,4% to 185,2 million Euro compared to 175,8 million Euro in Q1 2023, benefited from the growth of the Commercial & Corporate Banking Segment (+1,6% compared to Q1 2023), contributions from the proprietary finance business (with 7,2 million Euro deriving from the sale of bank securities at amortised cost) and from the disposal of an investment deriving from the restructuring of an impaired credit position (with a capital gain of 6,0 million Euro).
• Operating costs of 102,1 million Euro (+12,1% compared to 91,1 million Euro in the first quarter of 2023) increase due to higher personnel expenses (43,4 million Euro compared to 39,7 million Euro in Q1 2023), mainly due to the growth in the number of employees, also following Revalea’s joining, not present in Q1 2023, and the renewed NCBA, and higher other administrative expenses (61,9 million Euro compared to 53,8 million Euro in the same period of 2023).
• Credit cost is 8,6 million Euro, down 13,9% compared to Q1 2023, confirming the positive dynamics of asset quality in 2023.
• Liquidity position, at 31 March 2024, is equal to approximately 2,5 billion Euro in reserves and free assets that can be financed by the ECB (LCR above 2.600%).

Capital requirements

• CET1 comes to 14,98% (14,87% at 31 December 2023) and TCR to 17,43% (17,44% at 31 December 2023), calculated excluding the profit generated during the first quarter 2024.

Rome, 09 May 2024 – The Board of Directors of Banca Ifis met today under the Chairmanship of Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio and approved the Q1 2024 results.

“The results for the first quarter of 2024 confirm the Bank’s ability to perform well even in the uncertain macroeconomic context we are currently experiencing. Profit growth was mainly driven by favourable revenue trends and low credit costs. In the first quarter of 2024, the factoring and leasing business, thanks to the tenacious work of our network, achieved growth rates above the reference markets and offset the increased cost of funding. Through a bond issue and an increase in customer deposits, we completed the funding for the repayment of the TLTRO and the bond maturing in June 2024 well in advance. We also continued to strengthen our hedging of the non-performing credit cost in line with the prudent credit policy that has always characterised the Bank. On the basis of this positive start to the year, we look optimistically forward to the following months of this final year of the Business Plan, continuing to stand by the Italian small and medium-sized enterprises that we support with our products and with the distinctive expertise of our people” says Frederik Geertman, CEO of Banca Ifis.

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The revenues of the Commercial & Corporate Banking Segment, up 1,6% compared with Q1 2023, reflect the dynamism of the Group’s commercial network has allowed business to grow despite lower demand for credit due to higher interest rates and has allowed the Group to offset the increased cost of finance.

In the Npl Segment, cash recoveries on acquired portfolios amounted to 98 million Euro, up 1% on the first quarter of 2023. In addition to these, 14 million Euro were generated from assets on portfolios originated by Revalea S.p.A., for a total of 112 million Euro. To date, judicial and extrajudicial recovery activities do not show any significant negative impact from rising inflation and interest rates. Revalea’s contribution, the acquisition of which was finalised on 31 October, after obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals, was in line with expectations.

At 3,86%, the average cost of funding in the first quarter of 2024 is up from 2,38% in the first quarter of 2023 and 3,67% in the fourth quarter of 2023. The liquidity position at 31 March 2024 was approximately 2,5 billion Euro, despite the redemption of 500 million Euro in TLTRO in December 2023 and an additional 750 million Euro in March 2024.

At end March, ahead of the September 2024 maturity date, the Bank has repaid 1.250 million Euro of TLTROs and has already completed well in advance all actions to repay the remaining 787 million Euro. In February, the Bank issued a 400 million Euro senior bond and increased retail funding by around 350 million Euro with a multi-channel strategy and targeted marketing campaigns.

Asset quality ratios, the Gross Npe Ratio and the Net Npe Ratio stand respectively at 5,7% and 3,3%. These figures would come in respectively at 4,7% and 2,2% excluding reclassifications resulting from the application of the New Definition of Default regulations to receivables from the National Health System (NHS), which are characterised by limited credit risk and long payment terms. The coverage of non-performing loans was continuously and further strengthened from 35% in 2022 to 43% in 2023 and 45% in the first quarter of 2024. In particular, the coverage of bad loans was increased from 69% in 2022 to 78% in 2023 and 79% in the first quarter of 2024 and that of unlikely to pay from 39% in 2022 to 44% in 2023 and 46% in the first quarter of 2024.

Capital ratios confirm the Group’s great solidity. Both the main indicators remain well above the minimum required levels, with a consolidated CET1 Ratio of 14,98% (14,87% as at 31 December 2023) and a consolidated Total Capital Ratio of 17,43% (17,44% as at 31 December 2023), calculated excluding profits for the first quarter of 2024.

On 18 April 2024, the Shareholders’ Meeting resolved to distribute a balance dividend for 2023 for a total of 47 million Euro, equal to 0,9 Euro per outstanding share, gross of any legal withholdings, which will be paid with an ex-dividend date of 20 May 2024, a record date of 21 May 2024 and a payment date of 22 May 2024. On the occasion of the presentation of the results for the nine months of 2023, the Bank had resolved to distribute an interim dividend for 2023 in the amount of 63 million Euro, i.e. 1,2 Euro per outstanding share, gross of any withholding taxes. For the full year 2023, the Bank plans to distribute 110 million Euro in dividends, equivalent to 2,1 Euro per outstanding share, consistent with the new dividend policy approved last year.

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Banca Ifis’s commitment to the social agenda and to environmental sustainability and governance

During the quarter, the Bank continued its path of integrating sustainability initiatives within its business model, to which it linked a 7 million Euro investment plan – up from the 6 million Euro initially envisaged in the D.O.E.S. Business Plan. – to be executed in the three-year period 2022-2024. The numerous projects implemented during the period were also rated positively by MSCI, which in April raised the bank’s ESG rating from A to AA.

Among the various social initiatives realised in the first quarter, Banca Ifis launched Ifis art, the project desired and conceived by the Chairman, Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio, which brings together all the projects for the enhancement of art, culture, contemporary creativity and their values: from the art collection to the International Sculpture Park, from the project for the recovery of Banksy’s work and the restoration of Palazzo San Pantalon which houses it, from the Economy of Beauty to the support of artistic and cultural events, from education programmes to publishing products. It is an articulated and unprecedented project that focuses on digital, to make art accessible also through innovative and alternative methods, the development of public-private partnerships, to support territories and communities, and support for young people to foster development and social inclusion through art.

Banca Ifis has also joined the Fondazione per l’Educazione Finanziaria e al Risparmio (FEduF), the foundation created by ABI to promote an aware and active economic citizenship through the dissemination of financial and economic knowledge. As part of its collaboration with FEduF, Banca Ifis will promote specific financial education courses aimed at young people.