ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA raises forecast for 2017 financial year

  • Net growth of overall loan portfolio above 8% expected, adjusted from previous forecast of 5% – 8%
  • For the core segment of loans over EUR 30,000 growth above 10% is expected, replacing the former expectation of around 10%
  • Return on equity forecast between 7% and 9% remains unchanged
  • CET1 capital ratio forecast above 13% (upon completion of the sale of institutions in El Salvador and Nicaragua) remains unchanged

The Management Board of ProCredit General Partner AG (the general partner of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA, which is the parent company of the international ProCredit group) has raised its forecast for the 2017 financial year on the basis of preliminary figures for the first half of the year. The grounds for adjusting the forecast were the operational performance during the first half of the year, which was substantially better than anticipated at the start of the period, and the expectation that performance will continue to be good in the second half of 2017.

Initially, it was expected that overall customer loan portfolio net growth would range between 5% and 8% during the 2017 financial year. The Management Board now expects the net growth of the overall customer loan portfolio in 2017 to be above 8%. Growth in the core segment of loans over EUR 30,000 had been expected to be around 10% in the 2017 financial year. Growth in this core segment is now forecast to be above 10% in 2017. The Management Board will define the forecast in greater detail after a complete review of the figures for the first half of 2017.

Borislav Kostadinov, Member of the Management Board of ProCredit General Partner AG (personally liable managing partner of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA), explains: “We were able to benefit from the strong increase in demand for business loans in the South Eastern and Eastern Europe segments in the first half of 2017. Our growth was greater than expected at the start of the year in almost all countries in these segments, with business loan disbursements increasing exceptionally in both Bulgaria and Ukraine. This growth is the result of our strategic focus on small and medium businesses with good prospects to expand and develop. Our very good performance in the first half of the year underlines the strength of our business model, which is clearly oriented towards serving as the ‘Hausbank’ for these businesses.”

The forecasts for return on equity (RoE) and the CET1 capital ratio remain unchanged. Taking account for the general development of margins in the banking sector and the strategic withdrawal from the segment of loans below EUR 30,000, as described in the 2016 Annual Report, the RoE for the 2017 financial year is still expected to range between 7% and 9%. The CET1 capital ratio is expected to be above 13% after the sale of the institutions in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA’s report on the first half of 2017 is scheduled for publication on 14 August 2017.

Contact:
Andrea Kaufmann, Group Communications, ProCredit Holding, Tel.: +49 69 951 437 138, E-mail: Andrea.Kaufmann@procredit-group.com
Nadine Frerot, Investor Relations, ProCredit Holding, Tel.: +49 69 951 437 285, E-mail: Nadine.Frerot@procredit-group.com

The ProCredit group
ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the parent company of the international ProCredit group, which consists of banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and whose operational focus is on South Eastern and Eastern Europe. In addition to this regional focus, the ProCredit group is also present in South America and Germany. The company’s shares are traded on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The anchor shareholders of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA include the strategic investors Zeitinger Invest and ProCredit Staff Invest (comprising the investment vehicles for ProCredit staff), the Dutch DOEN Participaties BV, KfW Development Bank and IFC (part of the World Bank Group). As the group’s superordinated company according to the German Banking Act, ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA is supervised on a consolidated level by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) and the German Bundesbank. More information can be found on the company’s website at www.procredit-holding.com.

Forward-looking statements
This report contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not describe past events; they include statements on the assumptions and expectations of ProCredit Holding as well as the underlying assumptions. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not describe past events; they include statements on the assumptions and expectations of ProCredit Holding as well as the underlying assumptions. These statements are based on the plans, estimates and forecasts currently available to the Management of ProCredit Holding. Forward-looking statements therefore pertain solely to the date on which they are made. ProCredit Holding undertakes no obligation to update these statements in the event of new information or future events. Forward-looking statements naturally involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors can contribute to the fact that actual results may differ materially from forward-looking statements. These factors could include major disruptions in the Eurozone, a significant change in foreign trade or monetary policy, a worsening of the interest rate margin or pronounced exchange rate fluctuations. Should any of these factors arise, the impact could be manifested in decreased loan portfolio growth and an increase in past-due loans, and thus result in lower profitability.