Pre-tax profit of EUR 41.5m - 2.1 million customers - Target profit
for 2009: over EUR 70m
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Quickborn, 23 July 2009. The comdirect group (www.comdirect.de)
closed the first half of 2009 with pre-tax profit of EUR 41.5m
(previous year: EUR 40.2m excluding ebase). The number of customers
stands at 2,140,162, a rise of 59% since the start of the year
through organic growth in the B2C business line and the acquisition
of ebase. At the same time, the number of custody accounts has more
than doubled at 1,421,078. Assets under custody increased by 57% to
EUR 31.86bn. "Due to the growth in the first half of the year, the
comdirect group has expanded considerably. As the market leader in
brokerage, with more than 2 million customers we are now playing in a
different league," says Michael Mandel, CEO of comdirect bank.
In the first half of the year, the comdirect group generated income
of EUR 143.0m, down on the figure for the same period in the previous
year (EUR 143.8m excluding ebase). This was due in particular to
considerably lower market interest rates and restrained order
activity on the stock exchanges. Consequently, net interest income
after provisions for the first six months amounted to EUR 59.8m
(previous year: EUR 81.6m excluding ebase). At EUR 71.1m, net
commission income was up 8% on the previous year (EUR 65.6m excluding
ebase) as a result of the acquisition of ebase in particular. This
was countered by a reduction in administrative expenses. Through
consistent cost management, at EUR 101.4m these expenses were around
2% lower than the previous year (EUR 103.6m excluding ebase).
In the B2C business line, the number of comdirect bank customers has
increased by 82,533 to 1,431,830 since the start of the year. At EUR
20.3bn as of the end of June, assets under custody were on a par with
the level at the end of 2008. 925,787 customers had a call money
account, a rise of 14% in the first half of the year. The number of
current accounts also increased by 16% to 492,900 and the number of
custody accounts by 2% to 712,746. Advisory subsidiary, comdirect
private finance, serviced 50,999 customers, 9% more than at the end
of 2008.
In the B2B business line, the number of custody accounts at ebase
stood at 708,332 at the end of the first six months, down 3% on the
figure at the start of the year. This was due in particular to
seasonal effects in January and February resulting from savings plans
maturing. Assets under custody increased by around 9% to EUR 11.51bn
due to price rises and new business.
After a good start for the new complus programme, the growth course
in the B2C business line is set to continue. Furthermore, in the B2B
business line, the strategic framework for the next phase of
expansion for ebase is now in place. Mandel: "Through complus we
intend to continue to achieve strong growth in our B2C business line.
In our B2B business line, we will expand ebase to become the leading
B2B direct bank." Pre-tax profit should exceed EUR 70m for the full
financial year 2009.
comdirect group: overview
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|EUR thousand |Q1/08*| Q2/08*|Q1/09 |Q2/09 |H1/08* |H1/09 |H1/09 vs.|
| | | | | | | | H1/08*|
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Net interest income before |41,530| 40,463|32,648|27,565| 81,993| 60,213| -21,780|
|provisions | | | | | | | |
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Provisions for possible loan| -116| -279| -477| 25| -395| -452| -57|
|losses | | | | | | | |
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Net commission income |36,324| 29,324|34,477|36,576| 65,648| 71,053| 5,405|
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Other income | -207| -3,231| 3,866| 8,294| -3,438| 12,160| 15,598|
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Administrative expenses |50,040| 53,520|52,738|48,689|103,560|101,427| -2,133|
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|Pre-tax profit |27,491| 12,757|17,776|23,771| 40,248| 41,547| 1,299|
|----------------------------+------+-------+------+------+-------+-------+---------|
|After-tax profit |20,407| 9,625|12,729|18,229| 30,032| 30,958| 926|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
*Previous year's figures excluding contributions from ebase GmbH
Length: 3,025 characters including spaces, excluding table
Press contact: Johannes Friedemann, Tel. +49 (0) 41 06 / 704-1340,
Fax +49 (0) 41 06/704-3402, e-mail presse@comdirect.de
Press information:
All press releases are available at http://www.comdirect.de/pr. If
you no longer wish to receive these press releases, please send an
e-mail to presse@comdirect.de.
comdirect group: B2C und B2B
B2C: comdirect bank AG and comdirect private finance AG
B2B: ebase GmbH (excluding Commerzbank custody accounts, assets and
securities orders)
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comdirect bank AG
Pascalkehre 15 Quickborn Germany
WKN: 542800;
ISIN: DE0005428007; Index: CDAX, CLASSIC All Share, Prime All Share,
SDAX;
Listed: Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Freiverkehr in
Börse Berlin,
Freiverkehr in Börse Düsseldorf, Freiverkehr in Hanseatische
Wertpapierbörse zu Hamburg,
Freiverkehr in Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover, Freiverkehr in
Bayerische Börse München,
Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart, Regulierter Markt in Frankfurter
Wertpapierbörse;
