News and financial reports

Baader Bank increases consolidated earnings for 2024 and announces forecast for current financial year

• Baader Bank generated earnings before taxes of EUR 40.2 million and a consolidated return on equity after taxes of 14.2 % in the 2024 financial year, with earnings per share of EUR 0.48 (31/12/2023: EUR 0.06).
• Over the course of 2024, the number of accounts managed by the Group rose by 34 % to 1,708,000, while customer assets managed by the Group increased by 47 % to EUR 46.7 billion.
• 2025 outlook: The Board of Directors expects a positive pre-tax result for the current financial year that falls slightly below the previous year's level (2024).

Prevailing sentiment on the stock markets was more positive during the course of 2024 than in the previous year, and this prompted mixed results for the securities trading business. The number of trades and the revenue on German stock exchanges increased slightly year on year in 2024 for most asset classes. On the stock exchanges that are relevant for Baader Bank, the number of trades and the revenue has increased significantly compared to the previous year, with figures at a ten-year high — driven in particular by gettex. Accordingly, the market participation of the stock exchanges that are relevant for Baader Bank, i.e. the percentage of revenue and the number of trades, as well as the market share of Baader Bank itself, increased for the third consecutive year in the 2024 financial year. As a result, earnings from the trading business rose to EUR 66.7 million in the reporting period (2023: EUR 37.4 million).

Given the continued growth in the B2B and B2B2C cooperation partner business, earnings from the commission business increased during the past financial year to EUR 102.3 million (2023: EUR 79.5 million). Earnings from the interest business increased to EUR 48.5 million compared to the same period of the previous year (2023: EUR 35.8 million) and were positively influenced during the course of the year by the interest rate level and increased deposit volumes. Total revenue was EUR 247.7 million (2023: EUR 170.8 million), which constitutes an increase of 45 % in comparison with the previous year.

The three subsidiaries of Baader Bank Group – the Swiss Baader Helvea Group, Baader & Heins Capital Management AG and the Selan Group – also made positive contributions to the consolidated earnings for 2024.

Cost increases due to investments, adequate risk provision and variable remuneration

Total expenses in the 2024 financial year increased to a lesser extent than income year on year, amounting to EUR 207.5 million for 2024 (2023: EUR 166.9 million). Personnel expenses at the end of the past financial year were EUR 92.2 million (2023: EUR 72.6 million); this figure has increased due to the growing staff structure and variable remuneration components that are based on total earnings. As at 31/12/2024, the Group had 631 employees (in full-time equivalents) (31/12/2023: 560).

Operating expenditure rose to EUR 97.5 million (2023: EUR 90.6 million) — due to investments throughout the year to optimise the IT infrastructure, expand platform functionality and implement strategic banking projects, including the expansion of the trading offering.

Pension expenses increased to EUR 17.8 million in the 2024 financial year (2023: EUR 3.7 million) and included increased allocations to the fund for general banking risks¹ of EUR 11.8 million (2023: EUR 6.8 million) as a result of the higher trading income.

B2B cooperation business offering optimised

During the past financial year, a cooperation partner of Baader Bank, Scalable Capital, announced that the company would be bringing a new, or rather expanded, business model to market. This will create a new competitive situation for Baader Bank as it will enable Scalable Capital to provide services that are comparable to those of Baader Bank from a regulatory perspective. The joint cooperation agreement has been redrafted as a result of the announcement.

In addition, Baader Bank has extended its cooperation agreements with finanzen.net ZERO, Smartbroker +, Traders Place and sino AG. Cooperations in the account and trading business have been extended by several years in each case. By working with its existing B2B partners and acquiring new ones, Baader Bank is consistently focusing on further growth in this business segment.

The account and securities account business continued to grow throughout 2024 in terms of the number of securities accounts managed by Baader Bank, with more than 430,000 new securities accounts opened (31/12/2023: 1,277,000 securities accounts). Managed customer assets, consisting of securities account volumes and customer deposits, amount to EUR 46.7 billion (31/12/2023: EUR 31.7 billion). In addition, Baader Bank is establishing new B2B partnerships within the cooperation business and extending its product offerings, which will drive forwards Baader Bank's diversification. In the B2B2C cooperation business, the trading business with cryptocurrencies is also experiencing further volume increases.

Furthermore, the marketing initiative for Baader Bank's trading offering under the brand name Baader Trading was accelerated and the first positive effects were seen during the reporting period. In October of the past financial year, Baader Bank expanded its trading offering by extending the trading hours for over-the-counter trading in equities, funds, ETPs and bonds. The previous trading hours of 08:00 to 22:00 have now been extended by 1.5 hours. The new hours are 07:30 to 23:00. These trading hours were also extended to gettex in January of the current financial year.

During the past financial year Baader Bank also started a cooperation in the capital market and trading business with Erste Group. The cooperation includes activities in the equity capital markets business, in primary market sales and in deal execution services in Europe and North America, plus research services for institutional clients.

Sound capital resources form basis for further growth

Baader Bank's balance sheet total had increased to EUR 4.8 billion year on year as at 31/12/2024 (31/12/2023: EUR 3.9 billion). Baader Bank's equity had risen to EUR 189.4 million (31/12/2023: EUR 165.5 million) and the total capital ratio of the Group as at the reporting date was 23.6% (31/12/2023: 23.0%). With this basis, Baader Bank believes it is in a solid position in respect of its ongoing business activities, taking further development potential into account.

The Board of Directors intends to propose to the Annual General Meeting that a dividend of EUR 0.13 per share entitled to dividend should be paid for the 2024 financial year, subject to the relevant committee resolutions and supervisory requirements. The shareholders must decide on this at the virtual Annual General Meeting on 10 July 2025.

Baader Bank's annual report for 2024 will be made available in the "Financial reports archive" section of the bank's website on 28/05/2025 when the annual shareholders' meeting is convened. A separate non-financial report will again be published on the Baader Bank website for the 2024 financial year.

2025 outlook

For the 2025 financial year, the Board of Directors of Baader Bank expects market volatility to track at a similar level to the previous year. Due to continued growth of clients, market volumes and products, as well as the shift in the competitive situation, the number of securities transactions is expected to decrease moderately compared to the previous year.

In terms of sales volumes for 2025, the Board of Directors of Baader Bank expects a moderate decrease compared to the previous year. In addition to the continuing increase in the number of private investors in the retail client business, extending beyond national borders, the slight increase in business volumes across all business lines is also helping to stabilise unit figures and volumes in the long term — albeit with an initial downward trend in the medium term due to the changed competitive situation.

Accordingly, the Board of Directors expects earnings before taxes for the 2025 financial year for both Baader Bank AG and the Baader Bank Group to fall slightly below the previous year's level. As a result, the return on equity after taxes is also expected to be slightly down on the previous year's level.

Given the uncertain, exogenous influencing factors, the Board of Directors is of the opinion that reliable forecasts for the business development can only be made with reservations. For this reason, the statements, expectations and forecasts on the future development of Baader Bank are based on the information and knowledge available to the company at the time of publication.

¹ The transfer to the fund for general banking risks also takes into account the statutory transfer to the fund for general banking risks at the end of the year in accordance with Section 340e HGB.

Overview of key figures 2024

All figutes are preliminary and unaudited

For further information and media inquiries:

Marlene Constanze Hartz

Senior Manager

Group Communication

T +49 89 5150 1044

marlene.hartz@baaderbank.de 

Baader Bank AG

Weihenstephaner Strasse 4

85716 Unterschleissheim, Germany

https://www.baaderbank.de

Next dates:

30/04/2025  Corporate News on the results of the 1st quarter 2025
28/05/2025  Publication of the Annual Report 2024
10/07/2025  Annual General Meeting 2025

About Baader Bank AG:

Baader Bank is one of the leading European partners for investment and banking services. Trading and banking are combined using a single powerful platform that offers a unique setup and optimum access to the capital market using a secure, automated and scalable approach. As a family-run full-service bank with its headquarters in Unter-schleissheim near Munich, Baader Bank AG employs around 630 staff members and operates in Market Making, Capital Markets, Brokerage, Fund Services, Account Services and Research Services.