Börsiteade

Pealkiri

Bigbank's Unaudited Financial Results for Q4 and 12 months of 2023

Teade

Bigbank's gross loan portfolio grew to a record 1.67 billion euros by the end of
the fourth quarter, increasing by 58 million euros (+4%) over the quarter and by
306 million  euros (+23%) over the year. The  housing loan portfolio grew by 44
million  euros (+14%)  over the  quarter to  351 million euros, and the consumer
loan  portfolio increased  by 15 million  euros (+2%)  to 736 million euros. The
corporate banking loan portfolio in the fourth quarter was essentially unchanged
from the end of the third quarter (-0.2%).

The  most important developments in the  deposit portfolio in the fourth quarter
were  the continued  strong growth  in savings  deposits and  the fact that term
deposits remained unchanged from the end of the third quarter. The launch of the
savings  deposit  product  in  Lithuania  was  also a significant milestone. The
Group's  total deposit portfolio increased by 154 million euros (+9%) during the
quarter and by 570 million euros (+42%) over the year, expanding to 1.94 billion
euros.  The term deposit portfolio decreased  by 3 million euros (-0.4%) to 916
million  euros and the savings deposit  portfolio increased by 158 million euros
(+18%) to 1.02 billion euros during the quarter.

Bigbank  earned a net profit  of 11.4 million euros in  the fourth quarter and a
net  profit of 40.8 million euros in the  twelve months of 2023. Compared to the
restated 2022 results, net profit remained stable in the fourth quarter and grew
by 25% in the full year comparison.

Corporate  banking again performed strongly in the fourth quarter, driven by the
strong  loan portfolio and the net revaluation  gain on the underlying assets of
investment  loans with special  conditions. The segment's  profit before tax for
the  fourth  quarter  amounted  to  6.9 million  euros, including a gain of 3.9
million euros on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss.

Q4  net interest income grew by 3.9 million euros (+18%) year on year, amounting
to  25.2 million euros. 12-month net interest  income grew by 15.6 million euros
(+19%) to 98.0 million euros.

While  there were no signs of a fall in the quality of the loan portfolio during
the  first  three  quarters  of  2023, some  deterioration  in the consumer loan
portfolio  was  visible  in  the  last  quarter  of  the year. The weak external
environment  has started to have a certain negative impact on borrowers, leading
to  an increase in the share of past due loans, as well as in expenses on credit
loss  allowances. Expenses on  credit loss allowances  grew by 2.2 million euros
(+47%) compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, and by 5.4 million euros (+35%)
during  2023. Relative  to  the  end  of  2022, stage 3 loans increased by 21.1
million  euros  by  the  end  of  2023, accounting  for  2.8% of  the total loan
portfolio (+1.0 percentage points).

There  has been no deterioration in the credit quality of commercial and housing
loans. Overall, however, the quality of the loan portfolio is still good and the
fall in the quality of the consumer loan portfolio was moderate as at the end of
the fourth quarter.

At  the end  of 2023, Latvia  imposed advance  income tax on credit institutions
similar  to Estonia. The tax is to be paid  for the first time in 2024 and it is
to  be calculated  on profit  before tax  for 2023. The  Group recognised  a tax
expense in the amount of 2.0 million euros in fourth quarter of 2023.

The Group's investment property portfolio, which includes both agricultural land
and  commercial  real  estate,  stood  at  49.1 million  euros at the end of the
quarter.  The Group did not conduct  any transactions with investment properties
during  the quarter but there  was a gain of  4.4 million euros on the change in
fair value.

 Income statement, in                   Q4 2022      12 months  12 months 2022
 thousands of euros    Q4 2023        (restated)          2023       (restated)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Net interest income    25,191            21,282        97,981           82,335

 Net fee and
 commission income       2,168             1,900         8,284            7,411

 Net income (loss) on
 financial assets        4,246               985         9,222              800

 Net other operating
 income                 -1,940              -186        -3,626             -708
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total net operating
 income                 29,665            23,981       111,861           89,838
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Salaries and
 associated charges     -6,345            -6,022       -24,032          -21,304

 Administrative
 expenses               -4,091            -4,372       -15,249          -16,997

 Depreciation,
 amortisation and
 impairment             -2,039              -908        -6,400           -3,648

 Other gains             4,662             3,704         3,780            4,377
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total expenses         -7,813            -7,598       -41,901          -37,572
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Profit before loss
 allowances             21,852            16,383        69,960           52,266
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Net loss allowances
 on loans and
 financial investments  -6,908            -4,707       -20,893          -15,451

 Profit before income
 tax                    14,944            11,676        49,067           36,815

 Income tax expense     -3,519               176        -7,688           -3,532
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Profit for the period
 from continuing
 operations             11,425            11,852        41,379           33,283
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Loss from
 discontinued
 operations                -18              -415          -575             -590
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Profit for the period  11,407            11,437        40,804           32,693
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Statement of financial
 position, in thousands of euros 31.12.2023 31 Sept 2023 31 Dec 2022 (restated)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Cash and cash equivalents          518,672      406,837                173,447

 Debt securities at FVOCI            15,400       14,942                 19,213

 Loans to customers               1,665,683    1,608,720              1,359,383

 Other assets                        91,324       88,709                 92,936
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total assets                     2,291,079    2,119,208              1,644,979
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Customer deposits and loans
 received                         1,946,315    1,791,581              1,376,934

 Subordinated notes                  76,109       71,490                 40,113

 Other liabilities                   20,679       18,909                 15,912
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total liabilities                2,043,103    1,881,980              1,432,959
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Equity                             247,976      237,228                212,020
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total liabilities and equity     2,291,079    2,119,208              1,644,979
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Commentary by Martin Länts, chairman of the management board of Bigbank AS:

"The  year 2023 continued to be challenging for the world economy. The Ukrainian
war  has been ongoing for two years, and a new factor has emerged in geopolitics
-  the Israel-Hamas  conflict. The  base interest  rates raised  by the European
Central  Bank the year before  did slow down inflation,  but the desired results
were  not  achieved  by  2023. The  growth  of  Euribor halted and returned to a
downward  trend, but this did not bring significant changes to the interest rate
environment as a whole.

I am pleased that we were able to continue stable growth in challenging economic
conditions  and offer our clients banking services on favorable terms. Thanks to
a  well-thought-out strategy, we  increased both our  private and corporate loan
portfolios.  The Group's net profit reached 40.8 million euros in 2023, which is
25% more compared to the previous year.

The  changed interest rate environment allowed us to offer better conditions for
money  growth to clients  in 2023 - as  a result, the  Group's deposit portfolio
grew  significantly.  The  continued  trust  of  cross-border  market clients in
Bigbank in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, as well as the introduction of
savings deposit products in Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania, played a major role
in  achieving  excellent  results.  In  the  fourth quarter, the Group's savings
deposit portfolio exceeded the 1-billion-euro mark for the first time.

At the beginning of 2023, we continued to raise additional capital, successfully
completing  the bond program initiated the previous year and launching a new 30-
million-euro  bond program in  the autumn of  2023. The first series  of the new
program  was oversubscribed  again, this  time impressively,  up to  7 times. In
2023, we also conducted three Additional Tier 1 (AT1) Temporary Write-Down Notes
targeted offerings to professional investors, all of which proved successful.

In  addition to strong financial results, I am proud of the significant progress
we have made in our customer service. In 2023, our Net Promoter Score (NPS) rose
from the previous 52 points to a record 58 points.

I  would like  to express  sincere thanks  to the  entire Bigbank team for their
dedication,  determination, and hard  work. I would  also like to  thank all our
clients, investors, and partners for their unwavering support!"

Bigbank  AS (www.bigbank.eu) is  an Estonian  capital-based bank specialising in
loans and deposits for private and business customers. In addition to operations
in  Estonia, the  bank has  branches in  Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, and
Bulgaria  and offers its  products on a  cross-border basis in Austria, Germany,
and the Netherlands. Bigbank's total assets exceed 2 billion euros.

Argo Kiltsmann
Member of the Management Board
Telephone: +372 5393 0833
Email: [email protected]
www.bigbank.ee