KBC Group: First-quarter result of 506 million euros
May 16 2024 - 1:00AM
KBC Group: First-quarter result of 506 million euros
‘We recorded a net profit of 506 million euros in the first
quarter of 2024. Compared to the result of the previous quarter,
our total income benefited from several factors, including higher
net interest income, net fee and commission income and insurance
revenues, though these items were partly offset by lower levels of
dividend income and trading & fair value income. Costs were up,
since the bulk of the bank and insurance taxes for the full year
are recorded – as usual – in the first quarter of the year.
Disregarding bank and insurance taxes, costs fell by as much as 9%
quarter-on-quarter and 1% year-on-year. Impairment charges too were
down significantly, as the previous quarter had included a sizeable
one-off impairment on goodwill.
Our loan portfolio continued to increase by 1%
quarter-on-quarter and 4% year-on-year, with growth being recorded
in each of the group’s core countries. Customer deposits were up 1%
quarter-on-quarter and 1% year-on-year, despite the outflow of
deposits triggered by the issue of the retail State Note
(‘Staatsbon’) in Belgium at the start of September 2023.
We have always been at the forefront of new digital
developments, the most visible example of which being our personal
digital assistant Kate, which we continuously develop further with
the aim of ensuring maximum convenience for our customers. To date,
around 4.5 million customers have already used Kate, up more than
40% on the year-earlier figure. Moreover, the proportion of cases
resolved fully autonomously by Kate continues to improve and now
stands at 65% in both Belgium and the Czech Republic, up from 57%
and 54% respectively a year ago.
As regards our ongoing share buyback programme of 1.3 billion
euros, we had already bought back approximately 15.3 million shares
for a total consideration of approximately 0.9 billion euros by the
end of April 2024. The programme is planned to run until 31 July
2024.
On 15 May 2024, we paid a final dividend of 3.15 euros per
share, bringing the total dividend for full-year 2023 to 4.15 euros
per share. In line with our announced capital deployment plan for
full-year 2023, the Board of Directors has also decided to
distribute the surplus capital above a fully loaded common equity
ratio of 15% (approximately 280 million euros) in the form of an
extraordinary interim dividend of 0.70 euros per share on 29 May
2024.
Our solvency position remained strong, with a fully loaded
common equity ratio of 14.9% at the end of March 2024 (which
already fully incorporates the effect of the ongoing share buyback
programme of 1.3 billion euros and the extraordinary interim
dividend of 0.70 euros per share). Not taking into account the
extraordinary interim dividend, our common equity ratio would have
been 15.2%. Our liquidity position remained very solid too, with an
LCR of 162% and NSFR of 139%.
In closing, I would like to sincerely thank all our customers,
employees, shareholders and other stakeholders for their trust and
support. More than anything else, that trust and support is and
remains fundamental to the success of our group, now and in the
future.’
Johan ThijsChief Executive Office
- 1q2024-quarterly-report-en
- 1q2024-pb-en
KBC Groep NV (EU:KBC)
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