In the first quarter of 2021, AS LHV Group altogether earned EUR 11.4 million in
consolidated net profit. Within the quarter, the bank earned EUR 11.8 million in
net profit, including EUR 2.2 million from servicing clients related to the UK
branch. Varahaldus generated EUR 0.6 million in net loss, and Kindlustus
generated EUR 0.3 million in net loss. The Group's return on equity in Q1 was
18.2%.
Year-on-year, the net profit of LHV Group was EUR 3.9 million (53%) higher in
Q1, and EUR 6.6 million (37%) lower than in Q4 2020, when the profit of the
Group also included the success fee related to managing pension funds. By the
end of Q1, LHV is ahead of the financial plan for 2021, published in February,
by EUR 0.9 million.
By the end of March, the consolidation group's volume of assets increased to EUR
5.68 billion. Within the quarter, the volume of the Group's consolidated loan
portfolio grew by EUR 96 million (+4%; + EUR 353 million in Q4) to EUR 2.3
billion, and deposits increased by EUR 614 million (+15%; + EUR 904 million in
Q4) to EUR 4.73 billion. In terms of growth of deposits, EUR 595 million came on
account of financial intermediaries and EUR 54 million from regular clients, the
proportion of deposit platforms decreased by EUR 35 million. The total volume of
funds managed by LHV increased by EUR 50 million (+3%; + EUR 41 million in Q4),
to EUR 1.59 billion.
Income statement, EUR thousand Q1-2021 Q4-2020 3 months 2021 3 months 2020
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Net interest income 20 371 19 893 20 371 16 324
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Net fee and commission income 8 640 14 183 8 640 6 508
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Net gains from financial assets -375 1 316 -375 -389
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Income from insurance
activities 89 0 89 0
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Other income 40 57 40 36
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Total revenue 28 765 35 449 28 765 22 478
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Staff costs -7 253 -6 368 -7 253 -5 769
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Office rent and expenses -463 -239 -463 -278
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IT expenses -1 005 -964 -1 005 -729
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Marketing expenses -532 -475 -532 -473
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Other operating expenses -4 507 -3 381 -4 507 -3 926
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Total operating expenses -13 760 -11 427 -13 760 -11 175
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Earnings before impairment losses 15 005 24 023 15 005 11 303
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Impairment losses on loans and
advances -1 601 -2 243 -1 601 -1 011
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Income tax -1 988 -3 741 -1 988 -2 809
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Net profit 11 416 18 039 11 416 7 483
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Profit attributable to non-
controlling interest 373 200 373 404
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Profit attributable to share
holders of the parent 11 043 17 840 11 043 7 079
Balance sheet, EUR thousand Mar 2021 Dec 2020 Mar 2020
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Cash and cash equivalents 3 193 146 2 393 537 1 284 182
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Financial assets 149 739 330 055 231 321
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Loans granted 2 322 518 2 225 681 1 746 205
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Loan impairments -18 170 -16 858 -7 296
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Receivables from customers 5 185 9 388 2 780
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Other assets 30 005 29 604 30 148
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Total assets 5 682 423 4 971 407 3 287 341
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Demand deposits 4 272 474 3 635 166 2 357 463
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Term deposits 461 369 484 604 595 948
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Loans received 508 801 468 585 25 687
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Loans received and deposits from customers 5 242 644 4 588 355 2 979 098
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Other liabilities 74 544 27 776 26 093
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Subordinated loans 110 000 110 000 75 000
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Total liabilities 5 427 188 4 726 131 3 080 191
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Equity 255 235 245 276 207 150
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Minority interest 6 756 8 483 4 190
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Total liabilities and equity 5 682 423 4 971 407 3 287 341
Profitability ratios Q1-2021 Q4-2020 3 months 2021 3 months 2020
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Return on equity 18,2% 31,3% 18,2% 14,0%
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Cost / Income ratio 47,8% 32,2% 47,8% 49,7%
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Net gains from financial assets 0,3% 0,4% 0,3% 0,2%
In the LHV loan portfolio, corporate loans increased by EUR 68 million, and
retail loans by EUR 28 million within the first quarter. Within a year, LHV
Group's loan portfolio has increased by EUR 565 million, i.e., by 33%.
Regardless of the quick growth, no compromises have been made in credit quality
which remains good; wage subsidies by the State and grace periods offered by
banks have enable to ensure monetary buffers for borrowers. The grace periods
granted last year have mostly ended on time; the volume of loans subject to
grace periods has decreased from the original EUR 350 million to EUR 60 million
by the end of Q1. This year as well, the State has established restrictions to
impede the virus; at the same time, since February, clients have applied for new
grace periods only in the extent of EUR 11 million.
LHV has undertaken to support the fulfilment of climate goals. To facilitate the
purchase of the most climate-friendly vehicles, we reduced the interest rate of
leasing electric vehicles to 1.95% in March. The same interest rate also applies
to the green home loan. These are the most favourable interest rates in LHV.
To stimulate investment activity, LHV reduced the services fees for foreign
securities in February. Firstly, we introduced the Pension Investment Account,
or PIA, to the market which pension savers can use to make investments
themselves within the II pillar system. By mid-April, 2000 investors had signed
up for a PIA.
Among other important events in the quarter, LHV Group's subsidiary LHV UK
Limited was registered in the United Kingdom Companies House in February. Within
the quarter, LHV Kindlustus started concluding the first home insurance
contracts, and took over extended warranty insurance contracts related to the
sale of technological devices by Euronics. LHV bank cards were added the
possibility to see one's PIN digitally, and the possibility for private clients
to enable the permanent donation function on the debit card, which enables to
contribute to charity with every card payment.
Pension funds showed a positive rate of return, although actively managed funds
were bested by index funds due to lower equity risk. One part of this relates to
maintaining the necessary liquidity in actively managed funds for clients
leaving in September. By the end of March, the number of clients leaving the II
pillar in September and their volume of assets became clear; these remained
lower than estimated.
Comment by Madis Toomsalu, CEO of LHV Group:
"LHV has started out strong this year. We have continued to finance the Estonian
economy, made the first successful steps in establishing a bank in the United
Kingdom which requires obtaining a regulatory permit; we have vigorously
increased our number of clients, strengthened the offers of our services, and
once again received recognition for being the bank with the best service.
We have increased our market share in the loan market and grown our role as
market leader in the field of investment services. The keywords are activity and
the will to contribute to the growth of Estonian capital. LHV has continued to
finance clients during the restrictions, as well. In January and February, LHV's
market share in granting loans to Estonian companies was over 50%. For home
loans, the respective indicator was 12%. Interest in investing continues to
grow, when during the quarter, clients concluded nearly 16,000 new investment
contracts, and over 8,000 clients with assets were added. In terms of investment
services, we contributed to growth with the most complete product portfolio,
widely offering investment education, with the best broker service in the
Baltics, and with the most favourable service fees.
LHV's market value has increased by over EUR 400 million within the year. I am
extremely glad that growing to become the largest listed company in Estonia and
the related increase in value is divided between 13,000 shareholders who are
Estonian people and companies."
AS LHV Group reports are available at: https://investor.lhv.ee/en/reports
(https://investor.lhv.ee/en/reports/).
In order to introduce the quarterly results, LHV Group will be organising an
investor meeting via the Zoom webinar environment. The virtual investor meeting
will take place on 20 April at 9:00 before the market opens. The presentation
will be in Estonian. We kindly ask you to register at the address
https://lhvbank.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EL2t_a7xSaGyQX9PBfitlw.
LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in
Estonia. LHV Group's key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, and LHV
Kindlustus. LHV employs over 560 people. LHV's banking services are used by
nearly 274,000 clients, and pension funds managed by LHV have nearly 177,000
active clients. LHV's UK branch offers banking infrastructure to 150
international financial services companies, via which LHV's payment services
reach clients around the world.
Priit Rum
LHV Communication Manager
Phone: +372 502 0786
Email: priit.rum@lhv.ee (mailto:priit.rum@lhv.ee)
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