Original-Research: UmweltBank AG (by GBC AG): BUY
| Original-Research: UmweltBank AG – from GBC AG
08.07.2026 / 11:00 CET/CEST Classification of GBC AG to UmweltBank AG
Growth in customer deposits should be accompanied by growth in the lending business; rating and price target unchanged As early as the end of February 2026, UmweltBank AG presented its preliminary figures for the 2025 financial year. The publication of the annual report now provides extensive confirmation and further details of the figures already known. As expected, the audited figures show a strong increase in net interest income of 30.0% to €58.45 million (previous year: €44.95 million). This result is based on both higher interest income and lower interest expenses. The key factor behind this success was strong growth in the retail banking business. UmweltBank AG increased customer deposits by almost €720 million to €4,544 million and the number of customers by around 30,000 to approximately 184,000. The overnight deposit promotion (3.0% for the first three months), which has been running since October 2025, is likely to have been the most important driver of growth here. The effects of introducing current accounts, however, fell short of expectations. An increase in deposit volumes generates interest income through reinvestment with the ECB. The strong growth in deposits offset the decline in corporate banking, which is constrained by capital adequacy requirements. In addition, both the financial result of €17.56 million (previous year: €12.98 million) and the net commission and trading income of €7.09 million (previous year: €5.54 million) contributed to the success of the 2025 financial year. The increase in total income was sufficient to offset the rise in personnel and administrative costs, resulting in a significant improvement in pre-tax profit to €6.44 million (previous year: -€8.50 million). All in all, net profit for the year rose to €14.26 million (previous year: €0.73 million). The release of reserves in accordance with Section 340g of the German Commercial Code (HGB) amounting to €5.0 million contributed significantly to this. When the Q1 figures were published at the end of April 2026, UmweltBank’s management had already provided forecasts for the current financial year as well as a scenario-based outlook for the coming financial years. These have now been confirmed by the audited annual report. Accordingly, net interest income of between €62.5 million and €67.5 million is expected to be accompanied by a financial result of between €4 million and €8 million, as well as commission and trading income of between €10 million and €15 million. Net interest income is expected to benefit not only from further expansion of the retail banking business. The corporate banking business (environmental loans) is expected to achieve a turnaround in the current financial year. The capital increase carried out in September 2025 (gross issue proceeds: €20.66 million) and the reduction in capital requirements by 60 basis points in the second quarter of 2026 have significantly increased the scope for growth in lending volumes. Our forecasts are based on the company’s guidance. Following a slight decline in total income to €81.91 million, we expect dynamic growth in the coming financial years. This is accompanied by a below-average rise in costs, which is likely to benefit from the completion of the transformation phase. Given our expectation of an improvement in the cost-to-income ratio from 90.6% (2025) to 81.5%, we anticipate an increase in pre-tax profit from €6.44 million (2025) to €14.36 million. This growth trajectory is expected to continue in subsequent years. As part of our valuation model, we have determined an unchanged price target of €9.00. We assign a BUY rating. You can download the research here: 20260708_UmweltBank_Anno_engl Contact for questions: |
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